Dash of Summer
by chezchuckles
Summary: A Dash Universe mini-epic. Set four/five months after the events of Mad Dash.
1. Chapter 1

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

_For everyone who loves the Dash Universe and asked for more. A Mini-Epic. Let's see how far this takes us. _

* * *

It's dark for bedtime, but Ellery isn't in bed. She has her pajamas on like she's supposed to, teeths all brushed, but she did run away from the comb Mommy had. No comb. It hurts in all her tangles. She did run so fast, and then she did the secret mean thing, and now she's safe.

And she can hear Dash.

He deserves it.

She smiles to herself and peers into the terrarium where her dragon goes, reaches inside.

"Ella Kate. What did you do?"

Ellery jerks her hand out of Abe Lincoln's home and turns to the door of her room. Mommy has her hands on her hips. Uh-oh.

"I not do it."

Mommy huffs. "Why is your brother screaming his head off?"

Ellery closes her hand into a fist and shifts away from Abe Lincoln's home. Mommy narrows her eyes and stalks inside Ella's room, stops at the terrarium.

And she sees the nothing inside.

Ella juts her chin and stares back at Mommy.

"Ellery Kate Castle," Mommy says. Very quietly. Very serious.

"I did do it," she whispers back.

"Go. Right now." Mommy points towards the door and Ellery scrambles fast-fast out of her room, running down the hall to Dash's room, bare feet slapping against the wood floor and she pushes open the door.

Dashiell is screeching and jumping around. She zips past him and yanks down the covers, snatches Abe Lincoln out from the foot of the bed. Dash squawks louder, yelling at her now, but she cradles her baby dragon to her chest and hustles out the door.

She runs right into Mommy.

"Oof," Ella grunts, falling back. Mommy catches her up and carries her back to her own room, Linc still in Ellery's hands. He is kind of shivering. That's not good.

Mommy dumps her on her bed and takes Linc away, puts him in his home and closes the lid on top, and then turns back around to Ella.

"That's not a nice way to treat your baby dragon, Ellery. Let alone your brother."

"It was him's idea."

"Dash?" Mommy snorts.

"No. Abe Lincoln. Him's idea."

"I don't think so. All Abe Lincoln asks is that you treat him kindly, feed him, pet him. He does _not_ want your brother's smelly feet getting shoved in his face. Would you like it?"

Ellery wrinkles her nose, but she giggles too, and that does it, makes Mommy put on her _cop face_.

"Dashiell," Mommy calls out. "Get in here."

Uh-oh.

Dashiell thuds down the hall, screeching still, tattling to Mommy about what Ellery did, and she crosses her arms over her chest and ignores both of them. She can have a cop face; Daddy says she is _good _at cop face.

But Mommy is whispering something to Dash and she peeks one eye, and then she sees Dashiell grinning like crazy and coming for her. Ella scrambles back on her bed but Dash jumps up and keeps jumping, making her bounce all over, and then he jumps _on_ her, and he puts his feet in her face - she _tastes_ his stinky feet.

"Dash-UHL," she yells, shoving at him. But then there's Mommy scooping him up out of the bed and away, away those gross, sweaty boy feet, so so gross. Mommy is telling him _enough for now, my man_ and Ellery glares at Dash over Mommy's shoulder.

"See?" Mommy murmurs, putting Dash down on the floor. "Do you think Abe Lincoln liked that very much? And imagine with Dashiell screaming and hollering and maybe even kicking at-"

"You better not kick my dragon," Ellery growls, lunging past Mommy to get at him, but Mommy snatches her out of the air and holds her too tight, too close; she can't get, cant get at him.

"Ella, Ella," Mommy whispers, her fingers around Ellery's neck, mouth at her ear. "You put your dragon there. What happens to him is your fault, sweetheart. You see? You're responsible for your pet."

"I'm more responsible than you. I don't put T-Rex where he can get kicked," Dashiell says hotly.

"I kick T-Rex _all I want_," Ellery fumes, but Mommy wraps her fingers around Ella's mouth and she's all shut up. Mommy tells Dash to go back to bed now, Daddy is coming upstairs, and when it's just them, Mommy sits down with her on the bed in the darkness of bedtime.

"No kicking, Ella. Not Rex, not your brother. Not me either, if you know what's good for you."

Mommy is pushing her to lie down, tucking her into bed. Ella put on her pajamas real quick while Dash was crying about his shower - who's the baby? - and then she grabbed Abe Lincoln super fast and sneaked him down the bed - _lickety split._

"I need you to be nice to your brother," Mommy says softly, getting up from the bed. Ellery rolls onto her side and watches Mommy turn on the ladybug nightlight, green tonight with the stars in white against her ceiling. Mommy comes back to the bed and her fingers are light and soft on Ella's neck and cheek, up to her forehead and through her hair. Like maybe she's not so-so-so mad. Just a little mad.

"Dash be mean to me."

"Baby girl, what you did to Abe Lincoln is mean. He can't protect himself." Mommy looks sad at her. Ella did something to make her that sad face. She feels the hot hurt of tears glueing up her eyes, making it all choked, and she turns her eyes into her pillow to push it back.

Mommy strokes the hair off her neck. "Did you like having Dashiell's feet in your face?"

"You _tell him to_," she cried out.

"That's right. I'm responsible for you and Dash and I told him to. Exactly. It's not very fair when someone bigger than you puts their feet in your face just because someone made them, is it?"

"Oh." She's the bigger one who put Abe in where Dashy could kick him. She turns her head to look at Mommy. "Oh. I not like it. Abe Lincoln not like it, I guess, too."

Mommy strokes the hair at Ella's forehead and kisses her so softly, each eyelid, and the tears aren't so thick back there anymore. The hurt part starts to melt.

"I'm sorry, Mommy," she whispers.

"Thank you," Mommy says, even quieter, her face so very close, her fingers stroking at Ella's hair. "That's better. Can you come with me and tell Dash you're sorry too?"

Ellery presses her mouth together and frowns hard, but Mommy keeps stroking, pressing her fingers into all the frowning lines and smoothing them out.

"You need a minute?"

"I need many minutes," Ellery growls.

"You guys fought a lot today," Mommy says. "I know that's hard to let go but just because he gets on your nerves sometimes doesn't mean you get to treat him - and Lincoln - so poorly. That wasn't kind. And Ella, sweetheart, you're such a kind girl."

"I'm a kind girl?"

"You are. Remember when Rex hurt his paw and it made Dash so very sad and you crawled into bed with him?"

"Oh. He was so sad, Mommy. And Rex had to go to the vet. He not have Rex to sleep with."

"See, sweetheart? You're a kind girl."

"I not know."

"But I know," Mommy says softly. She taps on Ella's chest. "You have a fierce heart in there. Remember how sad it makes you when people are hurt? Even if you did make Dash pay for whatever he did to you today, it still ends up hurting you too."

"I not know, Mommy," she says again, but she snakes an arm around Mommy's neck and clings to her a little tighter. Holding her there. "Is Daddy going to come in and say good night?"

"Of course he is. Remember what I said, baby girl. You've got all that kindness inside your heart. Use that instead."

"When else was I a kind girl?"

"Do you remember when I was so sad about Uncle Mo?"

"He died," she says solemnly. "We went to his funeral. It was so sad."

"I know it was. But you sat with me, curled up in my lap. You made me feel better."

"I make it a sunny day, Mommy?"

"I love it when you're a sunny day," Mommy whispers back, kissing both her cheeks now. "I would love for you to always have sunny days. No more storm clouds, baby girl."

"Sometimes Dash does rain all over everything," she sighs, her whole body slumping into Mommy. "It's so hard to be sunny if he is just rain rain rain."

"Dash is... you know that your brother has a different kind of brain. Sometimes he has trouble being sunny, and he has to be by himself. If you feel it's too hard for you to be sunny too, if you start to feel mad at him, then stop playing with Dash and come find me or Daddy, okay?"

Ella rolls her head back to look at Mommy. Dash was not sunny today ever. He was mean. He took her markers and hid them. He ignored her and watched tv with Rex and told her to _shut up; you're too loud._ And she was not even close to loud. She's not a loud girl.

She's cricket.

"Ellery?" Mommy says softly. "Do you understand?"

"I come play with you instead?"

"We'll do something else," Mommy promises. "We help Dash the ways we can, and Daddy and I will help you too. I don't want you to feel like you have to put Abe Lincoln in Dash's bed."

Yeah, that did make her sunny for a little bit. But not anymore. "I not want to make Abe Lincoln smell Dash's stinky feet ever again."

"Thank you, baby. Me neither." Mommy gets off the floor and leans over Ellery, kisses her forehead with a loud smack. "I'll tell Daddy to come say good-night. Tell you a story."

"You come too?"

"Yeah, baby. I'll come too."

Ella throws out her arms and hooks them around Mommy's neck again, digging in close and tight, smelling her - Mommy - and giving her lots and lots of kisses, all over.

She was in big trouble, but it's okay now. It's okay. She won't put Abe Lincoln in Dash's bed ever again.

Because she's a kind girl. Mommy said it. Mommy say she has a fierce heart. Like a dragon.

* * *

Dashiell rolls over and looks at the lock. A five. That's better.

He throws off his covers and scrambles to the foot of the bed (at least there's no gross lizard this time), leans over upside down to look for his remote control. It's dark in here and darker under his bed and he doesn't see it.

There could be Abe Lincoln under the bed. It's possible. Ellery does stuff like that. She thinks she's so smart.

Dash sits back in a huff and glares at the television. It does not turn on with a Jedi mind trick.

Too bad.

He needs to find his remote. He's not supposed to get out of bed before it's a six.

On the floor, Rex wags his tail and lumbers up to his feet, waiting on him, so Dash leans over and hugs him around the neck. "Morning times, T-Rex. I gotta find my remote."

Rex slobbers kisses on Dash's cheeks and pulls Dash right out of bed in excitement. Uh-oh. But now that he's here, maybe he can go looking for his remote - that might be an okay bend to the rules. He pushes his dog off and crawls under his bed, brave face, he can do it, looking for his remote. An army man greets him at the head like a sentry, hand up in salute, and Dash flicks his finger at it to send it flying into the darkness.

"You're my scout," he whispers. No lizard moving back there. But Linc can be very very still for a very very long time.

Dash inches forward a little more and finds a lego piece. It's the red wing from his space cowboy ship. He'll leave it here for next time. It was a crash - a huge spectacular crash - and he can do it again. Maybe with Rafe. He wriggles deeper into the darkness under his bed, his elbows out to brush away the lizard if it's down here, and then he finds the heavy blanket. Oh yeah, he used to have this when he was a baby like Ella. It was pretty cool. Must've fallen down here a long time ago.

Dashiell uses his feet to push the weighted blanket back outside, shoving hard and maybe accidentally kicking Rex, oops. "Sorry," he calls back, pushing the blanket free. And then he goes back to his voyage of discovery.

The high seas under his bed. No, wait. A jungle. It's a jungle under here, all kinds of strange animals never before seen by mankind. And maybe one bearded dragon. Dash slowly stretches his arm out and slides it along the carpet until it hits something.

He yelps.

Oh, a sock. And the wall.

What is he under here for?

Remote!

Last time it was here. But it could be stuck in his covers. Or it could be some other place. Sometimes Dash has it in his hand and carries it around and doesn't realize it's still there and then Bam! Gone, says the lady.

It is maybe gone. It's not here that's for sure.

He sighs and wriggles halfway out from under the bed and gets licked all over again, making him laugh, and he wraps his arms around Rex's neck. "Pull me out, Rex. You're my rescue dog and it's a lake of fire. Hurry! Pull! Pull!"

Rex growls and shakes his head but Dash holds on tight and Rex backs up a little step and that's enough, that's plenty for pretend, so Dash crawls right out and jumps up and down.

"Yay! Good job, Rex. You saved me. You saved me."

He hustles Rex around the room in a victory lap, making the cheer sound with his mouth like a whole lot of people are in the crowd applauding, and then Rex wriggles away with a whine and crawls under the bed.

Well. "Good point. Gotta find my remote. No playing at a five."

He's only allowed to watch the television. No getting out of bed. Still, he can turn it on now that he's up and then he can jump back in bed real quick and not be in trouble. Dash stands in front of the tv and finds the cool button with its blue light, presses it. The tv takes a second to wake up after being asleep all night, so he runs to his bed and flings himself into it, snuggles down under the covers.

Rex comes out from under the bed and Dash leans over the side. "You find it?"

His dog just wags his tail and jumps up on the bed, settling down at the foot, a big huffy sigh.

"Yeah, I didn't see it either," Dash mourns. The television pops on and the sound is down like it should be so it's okay. He doesn't even have to get up and adjust it.

He can ask Mom about his remote when she comes to get him up for the day. And if the cartoons are good and he's very still, maybe he'll even fall back asleep again.

Probably not. It's a swim meet day and he's really high engine about the swimming and he doesn't feel at all tired. But sometimes it happens. Sometimes he falls right back to sleep.

* * *

Kate luxuriates in bed, stretching her arms over her head and pushing her toes deep into the sheets. She feels Castle shift at her side and turns her head in time to see him draw his arm around her waist and lift up on one elbow with a sleepy smile.

"First full week off," he murmurs, leaning in to glance a lazy kiss off the corner of her mouth. "How's it feel?"

"Full," she gives, smiling through another yawn. "I'm not exactly doing nothing."

"No, I know," he grins back. "Gina says all my writers are cowering in fear of you."

"It's been two days." Kate rolls her eyes and turns on her side into him.

"At least you're whipping them into shape."

"Castle, one of your writers keeps trying to shove a loaded weapon down the front of his main character's pants."

"Preaching to the choir," he laughs. "I already learned my lesson, remember?"

Kate lets the issue go and instead settles against his chest, yawning again as the morning light spills into her eyes. She blinks and her eyelashes smear golden streaks across her sight; his fingers move up and down her spine, brush her hair to one side.

"I like being a consultant," she says slowly, her breath slipping in and out in the quiet. "So far."

Castle hums something like agreement and his thumb presses into the knotted muscle under her shoulder blade, making her body melt even further against his.

"I miss work," she says finally. "But not like I thought I would."

"It's only been a handful of days. You needed a break."

"Hmm, yeah. Think so." After her father's wedding, it felt like their lives just got more complicated and stressed when her mother's murder came up again. She's needed this - a few weeks of being away during the summer. Just family and loving her kids and catching up on life.

She's got one more full week before she goes back to the 12th, and she's kind of dreading it. Which is weird.

"You always need a break," he grumbles. "But when _I _want to spend two weeks in the Hamtpons, you're all, _oh no, Castle, I couldn't possibly get away._ But when Alexis calls and says-"

"Shut up," she mutters. "She needs me more." She's surprised by how much she liked working at Black Pawn those two days this past week, even if Castle is stressed and working non-stop to get his new YA department off the ground. But they'll have the weekend.

Castle hums something and draws his arms around her, snuggling in. Not stressed right now, is he? "Not true. I always need you more," he murmurs.

She huffs and touches her finger to his cheek, lifts to trace the ridge of his eyebrow.

"You know, you need a break too, Rick," she says finally. "We should talk about summer vacation. Dashiell's been pestering me."

"I told him we'd go to the beach for fall break - a reward for having a good start to kindergarten next school year."

Yeah, another reason she's glad to have these two weeks only 'helping out' at Black Pawn. Dashiell goes to real school in September and he'll officially no longer be her baby boy. He'll be six at the end of October and he's already too cool for his mother; Kate will be able to treasure his five year old self, his summer days, be fully present now that she has some time.

"But the Hamptons this weekend?" Kate prompts, nudging her leg into Castle's thigh.

His fingers skate down her side and grip the back of her knee, a thumb rubbing across her skin. "Yeah, you said Allie has some things she needs us to do before the wedding."

"Flowers - we're making all the bouquets, but I told your mother she has to be in charge of that. I'm terrible at flower arrangement, Castle. Please tell me Martha is-"

"She's coming. I already heard from her."

"Oh, good." Kate pushes up off his chest, her hair spilling over her shoulder. He grins and tries to pull her back to him, mostly successful, and she allows his kiss, slow and exploratory, lets her body sink down over his once more. She was ready to get up and get going just a moment ago, but now she's ready for this.

She feathers her fingers over his sides and to his pajama pants, teasing at the waistband until he breaks the kiss with a grunt. "Shower or-"

"Or," she murmurs.

"How about _and_?" he says back, and his hands are already sliding into play and rocking her hips against him.

She smiles. "I can do and."


	2. Chapter 2

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

Castle slides out first, a smacking kiss on Kate's neck as he leaves her in the shower, her fingers trailing at his hip. He misses the 12th precinct now more than ever - maybe because he used to live vicariously through her and she hasn't been there for a week, or maybe because he spends so much time at Black Pawn - but he tries not to bias her. He tries to let her make her own decisions about the job.

But he's not sure what this means - taking two weeks off all of the sudden like this. She doesn't seem anxious about it either, and as far as he knows, she hasn't had any more of those panic attacks like when they were working on her mother's case.

Ever since Montgomery was killed... he just doesn't know. She's been different.

Castle rubs the towel down his chest, scrapes it against his neck as he peers into the fogged up bathroom mirror. He can hear Kate humming over the sound of the shower, the drop and fall of water against tile as she washes her hair. Familiar sounds; he likes being in here while she's in here, something intimate and close about it. He thinks after love like that she can't possibly be faking it.

She must really be okay. Even if she's different.

"Mo-om!" he hears coming from the bedroom door. Castle growls and wraps the towel around his hips, hustles out. The kids aren't supposed to come into the bathroom after them, but sometimes they do.

"Dash, my man, Mom's in the shower. What do you need?" Castle scrapes a hand through his wet hair, flings water droplets into his son's face.

Dash flinches and laughs, scuttles back over the threshold into the bedroom. "I want breakfast. I need protein for my swim meet."

Castle smothers his laugh, looks down at his son seriously. "I can make you breakfast. Let me get dressed."

"Mom said not to bother you."

"Mom's being nice. I can make you some of what I'm having."

"You having eggs?" Dash asks, dancing back again as Castle pretends to flick more water towards him for the gramar. "I want eggs. For my protein."

"I'm having eggs, imagine that," Castle says, raising his eyebrows. "Is Ellery still sleeping?"

"Course."

"Okay, watch tv until I get out there."

"Castle?" he hears behind him.

"I got him," he yells back. "You're fine." He turns back around to Dash and squeezes the nape of his neck. "Go, go, buddy. I'll be there in five minutes."

Dashiell runs back to the living room and Castle sighs as he turns for the bathroom, banishing thoughts of fooling around with Kate post-shower as well. Not now.

He taps on the door and faintly sees the form of her body turn towards him.

"I'm gonna get dressed and start breakfast. You want?"

"No. I'll eat with Ella before we head for the meet," she calls over the sound of the water. "Thanks though."

"Okay," he says, already turning for the closet.

She really is fine.

* * *

Castle hoists Dashiell up onto the counter beside him and listens to the boy's heels thunder against the cabinets. Castle draws out the last of the ingredients from the fridge and checks the time as he turns back to his son. He's got an hour - he'll be okay. Kate woke him in time.

"Dad, how about this?" Dash says, holding up the tabasco sauce with a cheesy grin.

"You know the deal."

Dash sighs and puts it back on the counter. "Only when it's done."

"Only when it's done," he says. "Don't want Ellery throwing up again."

"Ew," Dash grimaces, face twisting. "Make me throw up too." His shoulders hunch like he might gag even now, and Castle grunts on a helpless laugh.

"Just don't think about it. Now, pick out what you want. Special ingredients to give you super swimming power."

"Hmm," Dash says, eyeing his choices carefully. "Super swimming power requires..."

While his son debates, Castle moves towards the burner and flips one on, puts the pan on top of it. He's cracking eggs before Dash even has a chance to select his first ingredient; he's trying to hustle this along. He has time, but not a lot.

"Dash," he calls. "Pick your poison."

"Okay, I got it," his son says, relish in his voice.

Castle glances over to the counter beside the fridge where Dash has drawn a collection of things to himself, putting them to one side in a neat and precise order. "Yeah? What's first?"

"Lemon juice."

Castle winces inwardly but takes the lemon-shaped bottle from his son. "All right. Your choice."

Dash claps his hands together and leans forward to make sure his father's doing it right, adding the lemon juice to the eggs on the burners at the island. Castle catches him with a hand and pushes him back. "Don't want to fall. Remember the stitches you got?"

His son grimaces and rubs his fingers on his forehead. "I couldn't get in the water. No swimming. But we went to the video arcade and that was _fun_."

"Yeah, well, hitting that hard head of yours again isn't high on my list of fun things. Sit back or Mom will kill me for letting you stay up there."

Dash settles back against the fridge, thumping his heels again, and Castle turns to the eggs scrambling in lemon juice on top of the island. He uses the spatula to stir it up and then calls over his shoulder to his son.

"What else, kiddo?"

"This too."

Castle turns and laughs, takes the box of Lucky Charms cereal. "All righty, sounds like a plan." Lemon juice and Lucky Charms. Better get it done before Kate gets out here; she might veto some of this if she's close enough. He shakes a couple cupfuls of the cereal out into the egg concoction, hoping the yolk will keep the marshmallows from blackening in the heat.

"Dad, these."

Castle reaches out and takes the jar of black olives from his son, surprised that it's fairly normal. "Nothing else?"

"No. Those are my three."

"All right. Now mine." He shakes in a good spread of olives, and a plan starts to form. "Want to try to trick Mommy?"

"Yeah!" Dash cheers. "How?"

"We'll make it look like it's a normal omelette. My three will be stuff that will fool Mommy into taking a bite."

"Oh, cool, Dad. You're so smart."

Castle grins at Dashiell over his shoulder and nods towards the collection of ingredients that he pulled out from around the kitchen. "Get me the cheese."

"I don't like cheese."

"You do in your eggs, remember? Plus, we gotta make it look normal."

Dash gives a reluctant glance to the bag of shredded cheese, but he hands it over to Castle. "What else, Dad?"

"Um, I think the crunchy cereal might tip Mom off. So we need something that will kinda mask it. Got any ideas?"

"Huh," he hears from behind him. Castle turns down the heat a little to keep from burning the eggs while Dash makes up his mind about the omelette. "Dad, I think this will do it?"

He shifts and sees his son holding up a package of spicy sausage crumbles. He grins. "Good job, kiddo. We'll use those. And my last choice..."

Dash drums his heels on the cabinet and looks eager for the great unveiling. Castle leaves the spatula on the side of the pan and comes towards his son, brackets the boy's knees with Castle's fists on the counter, leaning in.

"Want to know?"

"Yes!"

"Reese's pieces," he says back.

Dashiell's mouth drops open. "In my _breakfast_?"

Castle smirks. "You bet. And then we'll feed it to Mom."

"Oh, _yes_." Dashiell launches himself into Castle's chest, arms flinging around his neck, strangling him with his excitement. "You are so awesome. This is gonna be so _awesome_."

* * *

Kate took too long in the bathroom and she checks the time as rushes out to the kitchen, apologizing even as she does. "Sorry, Castle. I know, I know. It's nearly seven-thirty."

He and Dash are standing in the kitchen watching her hustle towards them even as they eat their breakfast. Well, Dash is actually sitting cross-legged on top of the bar while Castle stands across from him.

"Dash, baby, get in your seat," she sighs, shooting her husband a look. He just shrugs. "Sorry, Castle, I lost track of time. Is Ellery even awake yet?"

"Nope," Dash says for him. "She's sawing logs."

Kate stops and turns to him, a laugh bubbling up. "Sawing logs? Who told you that one?"

Dash points his fork towards his father and Kate glances over at Castle; he's grinning. "That was me. And she's still asleep. I kinda wanted to see her before I left, but-"

"I'll get her up," Kate says, stopping at his side and running her hand up his arm, squeezing his bicep. She comes on her toes to kiss his jaw, humming when she smells that crisp, clean scent of him underneath the breakfast smells. Though it smells good too, some kind of cheesy omelette. Aw, he put spicy sausage in it for Dash, too. What a good Daddy. "You guys finish your breakfast - smells good - and I'll go get baby girl-"

"Mama, wait," Dash says, making her half turn towards him. "You should-"

"Dash, you want some more chocolate milk?" Castle says suddenly, cutting off their son. He's making a dramatic face at Dash, and the boy shoots him a startled look.

But he cheers. "More chocolate milk!"

Chocolate milk doesn't seem like the best idea pre-swim meet, but whatever. Castle is turning his back on his scrambled egg omelette thing, so Kate winks at Dashiell and picks up the fork, presses a finger over her lips.

Dash's whole face beams with joy.

Kate forks a bite of omelette and pushes it into her mouth as she grins back at her son, the melting cheese hitting her taste buds first, the spice of the sausage, and then something crunches.

And holy shit-

Kate spits it back out into her hand, horrified, mouth burning, and Dashiell positively erupts in cackles, giggling so hard that he falls off the bar stool.

She turns to Castle and he's chuckling too, laughing more at Dash than her, but her too.

"What is _in_ this?"

Dashiell is climbing back up the stool and snorting through his nose. "Oh, Mama, Mom - all kinds of stuff."

"That is truly foul," she hisses at Castle, snagging his coffee mug and downing the last of it to get the taste out of her mouth. He doesn't even protest, just hands Dash his chocolate milk. She narrows her eyes at him. "Rick Castle."

She grabs a napkin to get rid of the nasty omelette, but Dash lifts up on his knees in the stool, pointing at the bite still half-chewed in her hand. "You have to eat it. You have to. It's the rule."

She swivels her head to glare at Castle. "You set me up. I'm not eating this."

"It's the rule," he shrugs. "You put it in your mouth, so now you have to eat it."

"You..." She turns slowly to find her son still giggling, eagerly awaiting her compliance with the rules that she herself instituted to make Dash try foods he didn't like.

"Eat it, eat it, eat it," Dash crows.

"Relax, Kate," Castle says with a smirk. "At least you got mine. Dash's has tabasco sauce on it."

Her nostrils flare as she stares down at the nasty thing in her hand, but it's a rule. And the way her son is laughing like a maniac might even make it worth it. So she pops it in her mouth, grimacing as the sourness squeezes the back of her throat. She chokes it down, snags Dashiell's still full glass of chocolate milk, and then swallows it all.

Dash is laughing too hard to protest.

Was that peanut butter?


	3. Chapter 3

**A Dash of Summer**

_extra special thanks to muppet47  
who is an awesome good sport_

* * *

Kate snags a piece of bread to get the taste out of her mouth and thumps Castle's ear once more, dragging him half out of the kitchen with her. Dashiell is back on top of the counter eating his crazy omelette, still giggling to himself, but Castle whines and rubs his reddened ear.

"What'd you-"

"Hey, focus. I'm gonna go wake up baby girl, but I need you to give Dash the speech."

Castle groans. "No. Not-uh."

"Yes," she insists. "He needs to hear it from you. And be serious this time, Castle."

"But the Good Sport Speech is so frustrating," he sighs. "It's like banging my head against the wall."

"If you don't, he's gonna spend the whole morning anticipating all the swim meet ribbons he's going to win. And you and I both know how that turns out."

"Kate," he whines.

"Castle," she threatens. He's tricked her into eating a nasty omelette, he's letting Dash sit on the kitchen counter - she's only asking for this one thing. She'll twist his other ear if he doesn't.

He regards her for a minute and then grunts. "I know that look. Okay, okay. Fine. I'll give him the speech. Just stop with the bodily harm."

She hums and leans in to kiss his poor, pinched ear, stroking her fingers along the soft skin at his neck in reward. Castle relaxes and slips his arms around her waist to draw her in, and she goes.

They go through spurts - fits and starts - where they barely even see each other, barely touch, just fall into bed and not at the same time. Or every conversation is an argument - Castle wants to hire someone to do the work and she just wants him to rinse out his damn coffee mug and put it in the dish washer, _you don't have to hire someone to do that. _

But then they have times like this where even in the middle of the rush, in the center of a potential storm, they're taking a moment. Castle's fingers skim her hips, her hand comes around his bicep, their lips brush.

"Go get my daughter?" he sighs. "I wanna say good morning before I have to leave."

He frustrates her to no end; he throws fits to rival Dash's; he's immature and melodramatic and often selfish. But he loves her so much. And he's hers. Good for her, good for their kids, a good man through it all.

Kate rubs her thumb over his bottom lip and lets him go. "I'll wake up Ella," she promises, nudging back towards Dash. "You get Dash."

Castle grumbles a little but he heads back for their son, and Kate mounts the stairs towards the kids' rooms. She sees Castle sink down to his elbows on the counter and Dashiell turns to look at his father; she sees the serious etch to her husband's face as he begins the Good Sport Speech.

Kate turns down the hall, content that Castle is going to do his job, and she opens the girl's bedroom door. Poor Abe Lincoln is scratching at his terrarium for his morning cuddle, so Kate detours to his cage and reaches inside. The lizard practically purrs when Kate's fingers scrape the rough head; she strokes him over and over until her arm gets tired, and then she withdraws her hand.

Linc bumps his head into the glass in appreciation a couple times, waving his arm in that gesture of submission. For Castle, he bobs his head, showing aggression, showing his dominance, and she's always found that funny. Linc knows who his friends are.

Kate taps back on the terrarium in good-bye. It's dark in her daughter's room, so she pushes the curtain aside, drapes it over the side of Linc's cage to hold it there. The lizard turns lazily towards the sunlight, inner eyelids blinking, basking on his rock.

She moves to Ellery's bed and stands over the heavily sleeping girl. She debates how to go about it, but the time displayed on the lady bug nightlight convicts her. Castle has to leave, and the swim meet is in an hour.

Time to get up. And soft and sweet doesn't work.

Kate reaches down and yanks the covers straight off the girl, rewarded by Ellery's whining and curling up into an unattractive ball even as burrows deeper into her pillow. So Kate takes that too, dropping the bedding onto the floor as she leans over her daughter.

"Ella. Wake up."

She gets an elbow to the cheek before she sees it coming, and she jerks back, pushing her tongue into the raw spot, tasting blood. Jeez.

"Ellery. It's time to get up. Daddy has to leave soon." She reaches down again and plants her hands on either side of the girl, bounces the mattress.

Ellery flails out again but Kate catches both hands, pulls her into a sitting position. The girl whines - high-pitched and annoying - but Kate keeps dragging her up, trying to get her aware enough to stand on her own.

"Come on. Time to wake up. Swimming in an hour, Daddy is downstairs with your brother, and he wants to say good morning before he has to go."

Ellery's head rolls down to her chest and she's slack in Kate's grip, practically pulling her mother off-balance. So Kate falls back into the bed with Ellery, surprising the girl enough that her eyes pop open.

Where Dash would have giggled at having his mother fall into bed with him, Ellery only growls.

"Ella," she chides. "Come on. Up. Up, up, up."

Ellery closes one eye, narrows the other one, baleful and mean. She's still trying to curl up into a tiny little ball, still trying to keep her face away from the sunlight, but Kate's not fooled. This isn't her light sensitive kid.

"It's morning. Get up."

Kate crawls back out of bed but hooks her arm around Ellery's shoulders, drags her out as well. The girl falls in a heap to the floor, tries to tunnel under her bed to the darkness.

"No. Not-uh. Not again," Kate growls back, grabbing her by the hips and pulling her back out. "Ellery Kate Castle. You have until three."

Ellery gasps at the threat of punishment and jerks upright, smacking her head against the bed frame in her haste. Tears spring in her eyes and she holds her skull with both hands, mouth turning down. Kate sighs, but her daughter twists away from her, buries her face in the mattress, shoulders hunched.

"Okay, it's okay," Kate sighs. All that work, ruined. "Daddy's downstairs and he really wants to see his littlest girl before he goes to work. You can come down in your pajamas and we'll change into clothes after he's gone."

She strokes two fingers down her daughter's back, tugging on her pajama top to straighten it up. Ellery still has a hand to her head and her face in the mattress, so Kate slips her fingers up the shirt and onto her daughter's ribs, tickling a little.

Ellery squirms.

Kate suppresses her smile and leans in over the girl, brushes a kiss along her cheek, nudging her nose into her daughter's neck until Ella grunts out a giggle.

"Oh no, baby girl. Don't laugh. That would ruin it. Don't laugh, don't laugh," she teases, still tickling, blowing cool air across her daughter's ear.

Ellery flops back into her mother's arms with a huff, now trying not to laugh but mostly failing, her pinched-mouth smile looking fierce.

Kate gathers her up and cuddles her, kissing her cheek, her neck, her chin, forehead, eyelids, everywhere until Ella stops holding herself so stiffly away. Kate stands the moment Ellery gives it up, sinking into her mother's arms, and she heads for the open door and the warmth of downstairs.

"Hope Daddy is done with the Good Sport Speech," she murmurs into Ella's ear. "Don't you?"

"Yeah," her daughter sighs. "Dash not good sport."

Kate's laugh tumbles out of her mouth before she can stop it, and she kisses her daughter again just for that, hugging her close. She's still a cranky baby, still trying to hide from the morning and fighting for sleep once more, but at least she's not working against her mother.

Kate heads down the stairs.

It's going to be a good day. Halfway through her two week vacation, and she's already dreading going back.

* * *

"You ready for Fun Friday?" Castle asks, smearing nutella over the boy's toast since Kate is upstairs.

"Umm..." Dashiell is bouncing on the seat at the bar, kicking his legs out like a mule with his elbows on the counter. "Yeah. Fun Fridays are the best."

"Why you say that?"

"We get to go early and there's skittles and ribbons."

"You like skittles that much?"

"No." Dashiell shrugs, his eyes on the toast Castle is fixing for him. "Not really. I like ribbons. I'm gonna get so many ribbons."

Castle winces and drops the toast in front of him, watches his son take a huge bite. "Fuel up for your race. Which ones you got today?"

"I got the butterfly. But I suck at butterfly. And I got freestyle. I'm good at freestyle."

"Uh-huh, you're pretty good at swimming. But you know, it's okay if you don't get first place. Or any ribbons at all, buddy. Just try your best."

"I know. But I figured it out, Dad. I'm tenths of a second behind Miller in freestyle, and he gets slower and slower and we've had like - how many? - like five meets. He's gotta be slow as molasses by now."

Castle presses his lips together to keep from laughing, has turn half away from the kid so he doesn't see. "Well Uh. He might be. You might have a shot at beating Miller. Sure. But even if you don't, that's okay too."

"I'm going to get so many ribbons!"

Castle sighs, ties up the bread once more and sticks it in the fridge before turning back to his son. He's enthusiastic, and as competitive as his mother.

"But remember, Dash. Ribbons aren't the most important thing. What's the most important thing?"

Hint: Being a good sport.

"Right. Ribbons aren't the most important thing," Dash brushes off. "Swimming faster than everyone else is the most important!"

Castle groans.

Try again.

* * *

Kate hands over a whimpery, sleepy Ellery and Castle kisses his daughter's warm cheek, scrapes a hand through her still sweat-damp hair. "Hey, baby girl. Sorry to wake you."

"You give him the talk?" Kate says, nudging his hip. "Castle."

"Yeah, yeah," he says, wincing.

"Castle."

"I mean, I tried. I really tried. He just - he's dead set on winning, Kate."

"I know that. Thus the Good Sport Speech."

"Yeah, but... he's certain he's going to win the freestyle."

Kate groans and drops her forehead to his shoulder. "Castle."

"It's not like I encouraged it. I'm just saying."

He snuggles Ellery and slips away from Kate, leaving her in the kitchen to tough it out with Dashiell. Ella puts her arms around Castle, her skinny body and round face laying against his neck so that he can feel her eyelashes as she struggles with sleep.

"Hey, baby girl," he whispers. "Daddy has to go to work. You gonna be good for Mommy at the swim meet?"

"Dash not good sport, Daddy," she whispers against his chest and then lifts her head with a little smile. "He swim so fast."

"Oh yeah? He tell you that?"

"He swim fast fast fast. Get all the ribbons."

Castle groans and knocks his forehead into hers. "Baby girl. You're very sweet. But. Yeah, okay. Whatever. Get all the ribbons, Dash."

Ellery squirms in his arms and he moves to put her down in the living room, but she clings to his neck, unwilling to go.

"Do you want breakfast, baby girl?"

"No."

"No toast?"

"No, Daddy."

"No eggs?"

"Daddeeee," she whines, rolling her head on her neck to look up at him. She giggles when she sees the face he's making, wriggles deeper into his arms. "No breakfast."

"Fine, fine, fine. Be like that."

She gives him a sly look. "Mommy doesn't eat breakfast."

"Hmm," he frowns.

"Mommy has coffee."

"You want coffee?"

She giggles. "Nope."

"Okay then, you wanna cuddle with me on the couch until I have to leave?"

"I don't want you to leave," Ella pouts.

Castle sinks down on the couch and checks his phone; he has maybe ten minutes and that might actually be worse than leaving right now. Still he can hear Dashiell and Kate talking about the swim meet in the kitchen, and Ellery is playing with his dress button and yawning, all bleary blue eyes and mussed hair.

"Okay, honey. Wake up for me. Otherwise you're gonna be sad when I leave."

"I not want you to leave, Daddy."

"Sorry, baby. I have work, remember? I'm making books. The one with you and Dash."

He jostles her a little when it looks like she's nodding off, and Ellery yawns again and shifts off his lap, dropping to the floor to get the remote. She turns on the television but crawls back up on the couch with him, snuggling in at his side with another yawn.

Zoning out in front of the tv is fine. Sorta. Kate won't love it, but at least Castle will get the chance to tease Ella a little this morning, hopefully get her into a good mood before he has to leave. So he settles in close, tilting towards his daughter and knocking into her forehead.

"Ooh, what's this, baby girl? Pretty, pretty princess?"

"Ew, no, Daddy," she laughs. "It's Batman."

"That's my girl."


	4. Chapter 4

** A Dash of Summer**

* * *

Ellery cries after Daddy.

Kate pushes Castle out the front door anyway and kisses his cheek even as the little girl sobs. "She's fine. You know she's fine."

He huffs and leans around her, doubt warring on his face. "Maybe I should-"

"No, Rick. She's just tired. It's too early and she's used to you being here. She'll be fine. Now go."

Castle finally turns for the elevator, not looking at all happy. She sighs and steps out into the hall, pulling the apartment door closed behind her.

"Castle."

He looks defeated. "Yeah?"

"We'll skype you later. You'll see."

"I know. I just want to... be here."

"And that's sweet, but it's not gonna happen." She comes down the hall and gives him a soft kiss to his jaw, her fingers on his tie. "Look at us, role reversals. Being true to our gender stereotypes."

"It sucks," he says adamantly.

She laughs and can't help combing her fingers through the grey at his temple, scratches at his scalp as he sighs.

"You're fine. Ellery is fine. I'll even snuggle with her on the couch and let her fall back asleep if she wants. After I take Dash to his swim meet."

"Mom of the Year," he says back, something of a grin now ghosting his face. "Fine. I'm going."

She pushes on him gently and he disengages, heads for the elevator looking a little better than he did when he stepped out of the loft. Kate watches him, wriggling her fingers at him as the elevator doors close, and then she turns back around to head inside.

The door is locked.

* * *

It takes no time at all to pick the lock, and Kate is glad they left the tools hidden in the casing of the hallway fire extinguisher. She couldn't agree to leaving a key outside, but after Ellery got too good at locking them out, sneaky little thing, Kate compromised with the thin tools.

She doesn't love that their lock is easily picked. But right now, it has to be.

When she opens the door, Ellery has hidden herself somewhere but Dashiell is sitting in his chair at the kitchen table, finishing breakfast and absorbed by his comics. He's either sucked into a television show or hunched over a comic book these days.

"Dash," she calls out, trying to get his attention. "Dashiell."

"Yeah, Momma," he answers distractedly.

"You didn't hear me knocking?"

"Knocking on what?" he says, finally lifting his head to look at her.

"The door," she growls. His face blanches with that male Castle hurt, and she reins it in, squeezes her hands into fists because it's entirely possible that he really didn't hear her knocking, especially since she absolutely refuses to do it loudly or to yell through the door (though Castle will).

"Never mind. Ten minutes. Then we have to take out Rex before we leave for your swim meet." She starts up the stairs to look for Ellery, assuming the girl has gone back to her room to pout and gird herself for punishment. Kate slides her hand up the rail and steps into the hall, moves towards the girl's shut door.

It's locked too, but it's a simple thing of pushing her thumb nail into the round knob and twisting. She opens the door and Ellery is standing at the terrarium, her nose pressed to the glass as she watches her lizard.

"Ella. You locked the front door."

Her three and a half year old turns, one cheek resting on the back of her hand, and gives her a long and guarded look.

"Ellery," Kate prompts, coming into the room.

Ella lifts her head and pushes her hair back with both hands, but at the end of the move, she tucks it behind her ears, letting the dark strands curl. Kate's never seen her do that before, but it looks eerily similar to what she does herself.

So adult a look from her little girl.

"Don't lock the door, Ellery," she chastises. "What have I said?"

Ella gives a mutinous little shrug of her shoulders, casts her eyes away.

This is one of those times when Kate knows she should sit down with her daughter and have a conversation that slowly draws the girl out - but forget it. They don't have the time and that's mostly Ella's fault.

"No pool for you today," Kate says, turning her back. "Put your shoes on. We're taking Rex out before Dash's swim meet."

She can practically _feel_ Ellery's anger radiating at her, but she walks out of the girl's room and heads for the stairs.

Ella's been the baby of their family for too long now. She loves her daughter, but the girl has to learn the world won't revolve around her.

* * *

She should've taken Rex outside while Castle cuddled with Ella in front of the television, but she forgot in the hurry of trying to get everything pulled together. How does Castle do this so _well_ and she's still forgetting things? She's the one so anal, perfectionist, but Castle is the one who remembers to pack their snacks the night before and make sure Dashiell's swim trunks - his favorite pair that he has to wear for every meet - are clean.

She's running them in the dryer now and they've got twenty minutes before they have to be there.

"Okay, guys, right now," she says again. "Dash, remember my warning to Ellery last night? Be responsible for your pet. He's in your care."

"I'm coming," he yells back. "I'm hurrying. I promise."

She sighs and scoops Ellery off the bottom step of the stairs where she's been slumped over, idly catching Rex's tail as it sweeps towards her. Kate swears the dog _knows_ it's a game, does it purposefully, turning his back slightly to her and wagging his tail for Ella to snag.

"Dash!"

"Coming, coming," he says breathlessly, finally appearing.

"Get the leash," she says as he fumbles down the stairs. "Slow down on the stairs."

"You said hurry."

"Not on the stairs," she says, trying not to grit her teeth. "Never mind - I'll get the leash."

She turns and sets Ella on her feet, opens the coat closet to grab the leash from the hook, tug a plastic bag from the pocket of one of Castle's coats. He keeps stuffing them in here so he doesn't have to go all the way to the laundry room to get one; she's suddenly grateful for his laziness.

She turns and holds the bag out to Dash; he makes a gagging face but takes it even while she bends over Rex and clips on the leash.

"There nothing in it," Ellery says, a curl to her mouth. "No poop yet."

Kate grips the top of her daughter's head and raises an eyebrow; the flush of disdain fades and is replaced with that grumpy scowl again. Kate hands the leash to Dashiell and opens the front door.

"Okay, out, out. Let's go."

Rex whuffs in his throat and pushes past them all; she winces, feels bad for not having taken him earlier. He's just so good; he demands so little.

Her phone rings when they all get on the elevator, making Rex jump as he hesitates on the threshold. Kate idly strokes him between his ears, answering the phone, nudging Ellery towards the buttons since it's her turn this morning. Ella proudly jabs the L for lobby and hops up and down, making Dash join in.

"Guys," she warns as the lift begins to rock.

"Hey there," Castle murmurs over the phone.

The leash drops and Kate bends down and scoops it up, presses it into Dash's hands once more. "Pay attention, baby."

"Oh, I _am_," Castle hums.

She lets out a little laugh, her eyes drawing over to the elevator buttons. "Hey, there. You forget something?"

"Yeah. What time are we leaving today?"

"I was hoping before four. Avoid rush hour."

"Uh..." He hesitates and she holds her breath. "Okay. I think I can make that work. Tell Dash good luck for me."

"I will," she says, rolling her eyes. Castle is bummed he's missing the swim meet - the only one he's missed so far - but it's not like it's the kid's high school graduation or anything. Last week she thought it was sweet, today she thinks he's a little ridiculous.

It's been that kind of morning.

Castle doesn't even say good-bye before he hangs up, which is good because the doors open onto the lobby and Dashiell and Ellery squirm out with Rex between them, leaving Kate to hastily slip her phone into her pocket and run to catch up. They're already at the front doors.

Yeah, it's definitely been that kind of morning.


	5. Chapter 5

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

Castle sinks down into his office chair and closes his eyes a moment, gives himself this one indulgence before the crammed schedule and his ex-wife's nagging can get to him.

He still feels Kate's soft kiss on his lips and the way her hair brushed against his cheek as she turned her head in the hall outside their door. He still faintly smells his daughter's sleepy skin and Dashiell's crazily concocted omelette.

"Rick."

He jerks upright, opening his eyes, and Gina's standing in the doorway, hands on her hips.

"Meeting in five. Don't fall asleep on me again."

He narrows his eyes but she's already dismissed him and moved on. Castle sighs and opens the laptop, logs in and calls up his email account.

Last week when Dashiell competed in the swim meet, he got his bag of skittles and a ribbon for 'doing his best' effort. He threw it to the floor of their car and fumed all the way home. Castle's kind of grateful he doesn't have to be there for his son's meltdown, but he hates to miss cheering him on.

Matt sticks his head in the doorway. "We've got that consultation meeting in five minutes."

"Yeah, I've been reminded," Castle mutters, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, really? She was on the warpath this morning about those galleys."

"Well, they've got to be somewhere, right?" Castle prints an email and grabs his phone, calls up the notes he took last night while Kate was dealing with the 'lizard in my bed' crisis.

"She's gotten a little nuts with it. Nobody thinks we stole them..."

When Matt trails off, Castle risks him a quick glance, surprised to find hesitation on the man's face. "No. No way. No one thinks you guys stole them. That's crazy. Galley proofs? They've just gotten misplaced. Did Gina make you think that?"

Matt gives a shrug of his shoulders and backs out of the office. "I'm gonna grab my stuff."

Castle stares after him for a moment, but then he shakes it off and goes back to his phone, scanning the bullet points he made about the roll-outs. His role at Black Pawn has gotten crazier and more intense these last few months, but he thinks he's struck a balance, found ways to delegate the work to his PA, to Gina and the other editors.

His goal is to slowly work himself out of the mix, to give over more and more responsibility until he doesn't have to go into work every day.

Work sucks.

He's so ready to spend a long weekend in the Hamptons.

"Hey, Mr. Castle?"

He glances up from the extra notes he's adding to his phone and sees Kim with her arms full. "You need help?" he asks, nodding towards her full load.

"Just wanted you to know that Gina called a meeting. In about - oh, two minutes now."

Castle grunts and shakes his head, rubs the bridge of his nose. "Yeah. I got the memo."

"Oh. She sent out a memo too?"

He laughs and lifts his head once more, tries to not make Kim any more nervous than she already is. Mousy and soft-spoken, she's a good PR person, but her introversion has been detrimental over the years. "No, Kim. I was kidding. I've just had three people remind me - that's all."

"I'm so sorry, Mr-"

"It's Rick. And here," he says quickly, standing up from his desk. "Let me help you with those."

"Um, oh-okay," she stutters. He takes them out of her arms and nods for her to go ahead of him, his phone safely in his pocket.

He bets Kate is getting less hassle than he is.

* * *

"Dash, right now," Kate calls out one more time.

Dash hollers in panic from the top of the stairs and Kate's phone rings at just that second. It's Alexis; she has to answer.

"Dash, I am _walking out this door_," she yells and then yanks on Ellery's hand to drag her off the floor of the entryway. "Allie. Hey. What's wrong?"

"Whoa, nothing's wrong. You sound out of breath."

She leans over and snags the bag for Dash's swim meet, glares so fiercely at Ellery it actually works, and elbows open the door. "Dashiell Alexander Castle, you have until three!"

Allie's giggling on the other end. "Oh, I miss home."

"Bite your tongue," Kate grumbles back, but it does cause a smile to lift her lips. "Now you know why I sound out of breath. What's up with you guys?"

"We're already in the Hamptons-"

"Oh, yeah, your dad mentioned you were going up early. Everything good?"

"All seems to be falling into place," Allie sighs, a happy and carefree kind of thing. Meanwhile, Dash is yelling at Kate from the top of the stairs and Ellery is play possum from the end of her grip so that she is literally dragging her daughter out the door. She ignores Dash because giving in to his dramatics only winds him up when his anxiety is this bad, and because - well, because she can't deal.

She gives up. It's only eight, but she absolutely surrenders.

"Allie, I'm warning you now. Stall Rafe on the kids thing for as long as possible."

Alexis laughs again, a rich and beautiful sound, so in love, so blissfully unaware. "Seriously, Dash and Ella aren't exactly excellent birth control, Mom. They're adorable."

"If you were here right now, you wouldn't be saying that," she sighs, playing it up a little. "And yet I love them. I don't much like them right now, but I still love them. Go figure."

"I not like _you_!" Ella yells, yanks her hand away, and runs for the elevator.

"Oh, shit," Kate moans, darting down the hallway after her. Her heart pounds fiercely; if Ellery gets on that elevator alone again, she will be grounded for life. Life.

"What? Mom? What's going on?"

Kate closes the distance quickly and snatches Ellery up into her arms, wrestling her daughter against her side even as her heart pounds with shaky adrenaline. She twists back for the doorway to find Dashiell wide-eyed and sober in the hall.

She stops where she is, presses the phone back to her ear. "Ella made a break for it. But I caught her. Allie, can I call you back later?"

"Oh, yeah. Please do - soon, if you can? I need to talk to you."

A different kind of panic shoots through her. "What's wrong? Please tell me Gram is still coming to do the flowers? I can't do flowers, Allie. I mean, I'll try of course, for you, anything, but honey, I'm terrible-"

"No, no, no," Allie laughs again. "Not about the flowers. And seriously, I keep telling you and Dad - this is low key. No stress. I mean, Rafe is doing all the food _himself._ If the flowers look like we put them together ourselves, well good_._"

Kate gestures for Dash even as she scoops the bag up from the middle of the floor where she dropped it, checks to be sure her keys are still inside, her wallet. Where's her phone? Did it fall-

Oh, jeez. She's _on_ her phone.

"I need a break," she mutters.

"Mom?" a little laugh again. "Hang in there. Call me back when you get the chance."

"I will. I'm sorry for cutting you short. But we've got a swim meet and now I've hurt baby girl's feelings. Again. Maybe after the meet?"

Or during, if she can sneak it. But Ellery will rat her out to Dash if she's not careful.

"Love you, see you soon. Kisses to the demon spawn," Allie says, and hangs up just like that.

Kate slips her phone into her back pocket and adjusts the girl glowering in her arms, holds her hand out for Dashiell. He gives her a disdainful look and walks ahead of them, carrying his backpack with all his 'essential' swim meet materials.

Mostly it's his goggles and his book of Olympic swimming records, but she knows better than to try to separate it from him. He's chattering on about some guy who won gold in 1928 in the 400 freestyle - endless information - and Kate takes a moment to cup the side of Ella's face and kiss her softly, work on getting her in a good mood again.

Or at all. It's morning and Ella hates mornings and she just needs more sleep than almost anyone on the planet ever - Castle says she's half sloth and maybe Kristen Bell will adopt her too - but Kate hates that her daughter is so surly with her when she's not with her father.

Daddy is better for grumpy girls in the morning. Kate thinks so too.

"Did you know that, Momma?"

"No, baby, wow," she says automatically, reaching out to cup the back of his head and nudge him onto the elevator. Dash adjusts his bag on his shoulder and pushes the button for the garage; Ellery wriggles down to the floor, avoiding her mother.

Kate sighs and leans back against the railing in the elevator, but she can't give in to the urge to close her eyes.

She needs some coffee. She needs Castle to make her coffee.

The doors ding and slide open, and then Kate is snatching both kids' hands to keep them from darting out into the parking garage like little lunatics.

"Hold my hand," she snaps at Ellery.

The girl turns a mulish look up to her mother and Kate sighs.

"Please," she gives over. "Stay safe, right? We all stay safe."

Ellery drops the look, but she doesn't reply.

And that, Kate thinks, is the best she's going to get.

* * *

After the meeting, Castle checks his messages and sees Kate's text, followed by one from Alexis. He opens his daughter's first, just to be sure something hasn't gone wrong.

_Can you proofread the menu and the program? Sent them to your email._

He winces but yeah, of course. Of course he can. He'll make the time. He opens Kate's message next, sees only a video.

Castle slinks into his little conference room that really serves as a lobby to his private bathroom. Kate thinks it's weird that he hides in here, but it's got a couch and it smells nice and no one comes through the door because they think he's in the bathroom.

He slumps down into the couch and opens the video clip, watches with a smile on his face as he sees his son's profile, goggles distorting his face, hair spiky with water. Dashiell is nodding up at whoever is taking the video - assumedly Kate - and he gives the camera a huge thumbs up, eagerness in every line of his body.

Castle grunts and raises the audio just in time to hear Kate mutter, "Here goes nothing."

The swimmers are called to their starting blocks and the quality on Kate's new phone is so good that he can see the goose bumps on his kid's arms as Kate stands behind the line around the pool. Dashiell goes into his crouch and the knobs of his spine stand out like sand dunes in a pale desert.

The megaphone sounds the loud alert and Dashiell raises halfway, knees straightening even as his body stays bent - a comical and somehow also heartbreaking imitation of Olympic swimmers on their starting blocks. Castle drops his elbows to his knees and peers down at the screen, watching.

The alarm goes off twice and changes tone and then the megaphone gives off that screeching signal. Dashiell fumbles the start - he always does; he can't ever get used to the sensory overload that cascades through him when that megaphone blasts - and then he's pushing off into the water, coming up scant moments after he goes under.

He's not _good_ exactly, but he's not really that bad.

On the video, he can hear Ellery cheering for her brother, wild and kinda nutty, but as usual, Kate is absolutely silent until the boy touches the far wall. Like she's holding her breath, like she can't bear to watch Dashiell swim away from her, can only catch up to it once he's swimming back.

It's a short run for the kids, really, but it's the freestyle race. The one Dashiell thinks he's going to win, and as Kate's video follows his son, he wonders how the other swimmers are doing. Wonders if maybe Dash has a chance against Miller.

But the buzzer goes off when Dash is bare breaths from the wall, meaning someone just beat him. Castle hears Kate's sharp breath and sees Dashiell's face as he touches the side, sees it register with his son that he didn't win.

A twist of pure disappointment shatters him - for just that moment, just that heart-wrenching second - and then Dash is heaving himself out of the pool and coming up to Kate with that serious little man intensity in his eyes, his mouth in a straight line.

"Mom?"

On the video, he can hear Kate's little sigh. "You swam beautifully; I'm so proud of you."

"Mom," Dash insists.

"You got second place, my man."

"And Miller?"

Kate doesn't say it, but they all know. Dashiell drops his chin and gazes at the floor, and then the video skews as Kate must lower her hand, because all he sees now is the pool floor and a stack of towels.

But he hears Kate murmuring to him - _good job, you did so good, you swim with so much heart, baby._

And then Dashiell's tight voice. "I have to go tell Miller congratulations."

_No, you don't!_ Castle wants to shout. But no. No. That's not being a good sport. All the kids are supposed to shake hands after the meet.

"You need a moment?" Kate says, God bless her.

"No," Dash gets out, though his voice sounds choked. "I can do it."

And then that's the end of the video clip. His chest bursting with pride, he texts her back: _I love you. _

He knows those three little words have to say it all - his pride and his gratefulness and his relief and his disappointment for his kid - but Kate has always been able to understand his words.

And then he gets a text back.

_Oh, no. That's not the whole story. When I can, I'll call and give you a blow by blow of Dashiell's hysterical meltdown after the butterfly. Misery loves company._

Uh-oh.


	6. Chapter 6

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

The moment Kate and her kids pass the threshold into the loft, everything that was carefully held together falls apart. Dashiell lets loose his fat tears again and turns to bury his face into her thighs, gripping hard, while Ellery jerks out of Kate's hand and runs upstairs to no doubt console herself with her lizard.

Apparently, Ella thought her mother wasn't serious when Kate told her no swimming; she got her feelings hurt when she opened up Dash's bag and her own swimsuit wasn't in it.

Too bad. She was warned.

Kate drops their stuff to the floor and leans over Dash, cupping the back of his head and finger-combing through his wet hair. "Okay, my man. All right. That's enough. Look, your dog is wondering why you're so upset."

Rex has appeared from somewhere - he was probably napping on the couch in the study - and he noses into Dashiell's neck, but it seems to do no good.

Dashiell's tears are more dramatics now than actual heartbreak, though for a minute at the pool this morning, she thought he might actually throw up on her, crying so hard. She scratches her nails at his scalp and untangles his arms from her legs, moves them painstakingly into the living room and finally to the kitchen.

He mopes after her, pitiful crying with every breath, and Kate pulls open the fridge, snags a snack bottle of Gatorade and untwists the top. "Hey, look. Your victory Gatorade, my man."

His sobs have gotten a little ridiculous, and instead of taking the drink, he wails something about Miller always getting the best flavor Gatorade (what? really?) and crashes back into her legs. Kate sighs and places the Gatorade on the counter, leans over him to awkwardly pat his back before she sinks down to be eye level with him.

It's not like they haven't already gone through this at the pool. _Twice._

"Dash. Enough. No more crying." She grips him by the shoulders, giving him deep pressure, squeezing to let his body orient itself to the sensation and helping him regain his self-control. "Listen up. You keep crying about it, that tells me we should pull you out of swimming altogether."

Dash shudders in his tears but jerks upright, blinking hard, lip quivering, noises trapped in his chest. At the pool, she managed to get him changed out of his swim trunks, which helps the issue since he can't stand the wet material drying against him, but the chlorine has irritated his skin - she can see bright pink on his neck under his shirt.

"We need to get you rinsed off, Dash," she says, quieter now. "Chlorine's not good for you."

"I _hate_ showers," he wails.

"Dash." She lifts an eyebrow and tugs the hem of his shirt, draws it over his head. "It'll be quick - just a rinse."

And then a nap. She hates to suggest actually taking him out of swimming because the pressure of the water around his body does amazing things for his system. He's napped after every single swim practice and meet except one. And her son never naps. The extra sleep has been so good for him, makes him a happier boy. He needs the heavy work of swimming.

She stands up and tosses the damp shirt towards the laundry room, hears his tired giggle behind her. Kate smiles to herself and collars Dash around the neck, pulls him towards the stairs. "Quick rinse."

"Fine," he huffs, but there's a reluctant sunny day somewhere in there.

Rex seems to opt to stay downstairs, watching them from the bottom with his tail wagging slowly. Kate follows behind Dash on the steps, heads into the bathroom while Dashiell strips his shorts in the hallway and bounces on his toes. She starts the water for his quick rinse, angles the showerhead so that it's mostly hitting the wall, and adjusts the temperature until it's merely lukewarm.

"Dash," she calls out and there he is, appearing like magic from wherever he ran off to. She grips his upper arm as he clambers over the tub; she doesn't trust his klutzy maneuvering. Dash wriggles out of her grasp and sidesteps towards the spray of water, squinting one eye like he expects the drops to feel like acid.

Well, maybe they do. There's a depressing thought.

"Faster you get in, faster you get out," she sighs, stepping back a little to keep from getting wet. "You can do it, my man. In and out. Just let the water sluice over you."

"Sluice, hmm. I like it. Like juice?" He turns his back to the shower and takes a few baby steps, screwing up both eyes now, and Kate sighs when she realizes what he's doing.

Playing her.

"Dash," she growls. "Now."

He slumps and ducks into the water, dancing on his feet like he's walking across hot coals, shaking his head with his eyes squinted shut.

"And sluice means wash over. Sluice drains in the street where the water runs off. I don't know where it comes from, but I'll let you use my phone to look it up."

"Yeah!" That gets a little more cooperation too, and Dashiell does his best to stand up straight under the water, only flinching a couple of times.

Kate reaches in and rakes her hand through his hair to get all the chlorine out, and then she grabs him and tugs him away from the spray. "You're done. That's all. Not so bad, right?"

He hops over the tub and she grunts with the weight of him still in her grip; Dashiell beams up at her from behind his bangs. Kate shakes her head at him and throws a towel in his face, making him giggle again.

He sounds exhausted. He's been swimming for two hours and most of that during a competition that he really wanted to win. He's going to crash in moments.

"Let's find soft clothes," she murmurs to him. She heads for his bedroom and hears him trailing after her with the towel dragging the floor, but when she pulls out his striped pajamas, Dash doesn't even protest.

He drags his shirt on over his head, his hair sticking up like a crazy porcupine, and she grins back in his happy, tired eyes. He ate a whole bag of skittles in the car on the way home, which might account for the prolonged meltdown, but even the sugar can't keep him from swaying and blinking hard as he struggles with his pajama pants.

"Let me go coddle your sister," she says softly, dropping her hand to the top of his head as she passes.

"I'm gonna play with Rex," Dash says, hustling past her to run down the hall.

"Slow on the stairs," she calls after him, pausing outside her daughter's door to make sure that Dashiell does as she says.

When he's disappeared - at least holding on to the rail - Kate taps her fingers against Ellery's door and twists the knob.

Her daughter is nowhere to be seen, but this is routine as well. Kate sinks to her knees beside the bed and slips a hand beneath the dust ruffle, sweeps a slow arc until she finds a knee. She squeezes and sits down beside the bed, the mattress at her neck, and gives Ella a moment.

"I know you're upset about not getting to swim. And you're probably pretty sleepy still, huh, sweet girl?" She nearly called Ella _baby_. Almost. She's been trying not to, trying to give the girl a chance to behave like the three and a half year old she is. Hard habit to break, especially when Ellery will always be her baby girl.

Castle's had an easier time of it, maybe because he's got two girls and Kate never had Allie so small and sweet to baby in the first place. Maybe it's easier to let go of the nickname when there are two.

She feels the little knee shift and then Ellery is climbing out from under the bed and into Kate's lap. The girl sighs softly and curls up, and Kate wraps her arms around her daughter, kisses the top of her head.

"You play with Abe Lincoln when you got home?"

A nod against Kate's chest is all she gets. And then a sigh and Ellery lifts her face. "Where Dash?"

"Downstairs playing with Rex."

"I go."

"Okay, sweetheart," Kate murmurs, but instead of letting Ellery clamber off her lap, she stands up, cuddling her closer. "Can I get a hug?"

Ellery squeezes tightly, mimicking their deep pressure hugs for Dashiell, her arms banding at Kate's shoulders and back as far as she can reach. Kate smiles and buries a kiss in Ella's neck, humming until she hears a put-out little laugh.

They go downstairs slowly, Kate keeping an eye out for running bodies - she's tripped over Dash more than once - and then she hesitates at the bottom step when she sees the empty rooms.

"Where Dash?" Ellery says, lifting up from Kate's chest and glancing around. "Not here, Mommy."

"Maybe they're in the study." Did Rex try to go back to sleep on the couch? He's been doing that more and more lately, slipping off to sleep away from them. But he doesn't seem lethargic or sick... maybe Dash's early hours wear him out.

She peers through the bookshelves and catches sight of a wriggling boy, laughs to herself as she steps inside the study. Rex has become a kind of pillow and Dashiell is sprawled out over him on the couch, both arms raised above his head, a Star Wars X-wing starfighter in his hand doing an elaborate dance. With appropriate battle noises.

"Hey, buddy, you getting tired?" Kate says.

He twists his neck to see her, grins. "I'm doing Luke Skywalker. He's got to blow up some TIE fighters."

That Kate knows at all what her son is talking about means she's seen Star Wars way too many times. Way too many. But a movie in bed is such a great way to transition him into sleep that it might be worth another viewing.

Ellery leans out over Kate's arm and tries to snag Dashiell's starfighter. Kate steps away and grips Ella harder to keep her from falling. Ellery gets a mulish look on her face like she might try to fight her mother, so Kate gives in.

"You guys want to watch Star Wars in the big bed with me?"

"Yeah!" Dashiell crows, bouncing right up and dislodging Rex from his spot. The dog doesn't seem to mind, but he does hop down to sit at Kate's feet as if to get out of the line of fire.

"Ellery?" Kate asks. She hopes her littlest will fall asleep if given the chance, and maybe Dashiell will as well. They could all use some more sleep, actually.

"I watch Star Wars," Ella says finally, pushing her hair out of her face with both hands. And then hooking it behind her ears, that little move that Kate saw for the first time this morning. It looks so old on her, so grown-up.

"Yeah!" Dashiell cheers again and jumps down from the couch, hightailing it for his parents' room, leaving them in the dust. "I claim the ipad!"

Kate sighs but Ellery doesn't fight him for it; she doesn't even wriggle to get down. Must be sleepier than Kate thought.

She nudges the dog's side with her knee, drops a hand to scratch behind his ears. "I'll let you in too," she relents. "Come on, Rex."

"Rex come too," Ellery sighs at her neck. "I do love him, Mommy. I not kick him."

Kate cups her hand at the back of Ella's head, kisses her softly as she heads into the bedroom. Ellery must have been holding on to last night, her anger twisting into guilt all this time, a little too much, too intense for a three year old. Kate's father has been remarking lately that Kate was just the same when she was little. Fierce, he calls it. "I know, sweetheart. You're a good girl. Let's watch Star Wars, all of us, in the big bed, okay?"

* * *

He is a _master_ at this. He knocks out two projects in twenty minutes, sends a couple manuscripts to his PA, and actually gets to Felix again to finalize the rollouts. Of course, he's skimming the youtube video they created, not_ precisely_ paying it the attention it probably deserves, but Matt and Kim are in charge of this and he trusts their ideas. Regardless, Castle has blown right through his inbox.

Yeah, mad skills. Fingers on the keyboard like a ninja.

It goes so much faster than he expected, that he officially calls it a day. And since Kate hasn't messaged him back to explain the hysterical meltdown, Castle locks his office door and pulls out his phone.

She answers after a couple rings, her voice quiet. "Hey, there."

"Hey, so guess what?" he says, nodding to Gina as he heads for the elevator.

"What?"

"I finished. Everything. I'm coming home now. Get a jump on traffic out to the Hamptons. Have you guys had lunch?"

"Not yet. Did you get enough done?"

"Why are you whispering?"

"I've got both kids conked out on top of me."

He laughs, warm with the image. "On the couch?"

"Our bed," she murmurs back, her voice like water over pebbles, quiet and steady. "So it might be just you and me for lunch. I'd like to let them sleep. Maybe they won't be little monsters on our drive up."

"Oh, you're smart," he murmurs. The elevator still hasn't arrived and there are a few people wanting to leave for lunch as well, so Castle leans against the wall to wait. "Hey, I'll stop on my way and get us something nice. Anything you want?"

"Mm, I'd love some good Italian. Can you get it to-go at our place?"

"If not, I'll offer them an obscene amount of money to make it happen," he grins.

"Castle," she chides softly, but there's no real rebuke in it. In fact, she sounds rather pleased with the idea.

"I'm pretty sure they do," he admits. "You want your usual?"

"Yes, please," she hums. "But no bread."

"Bread's the best part," he whines.

"Yeah, but I won't get to run today."

"Yeah, but you've lost like ten pounds since Montgomery-" Castle breaks it off, wincing as he hears her sharp breath on the other end. So not the time to be throwing that out there like a grenade. He's gotta control his stupid mouth.

She's quiet on the other end and he rushes to fill the silence.

"You could do with some bread," he finishes lamely.

"No bread," she says back softly. And he hears what she's saying - _I'm fine, Castle._

"Okay. No bread," he gives in. _I'll keep pretending that's true._

For now.


	7. Chapter 7

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

When Castle gets home, he doesn't call out, simply drops his keys in the bowl on the entry table and toes off his shoes. Opening the bag as he heads for the kitchen, he takes out their covered entrees and stacks them in the microwave so they'll stay warm, then he sets the bread next to them. Castle pushes the plastic carryout bag into the recycling bin in the pantry and stands still for a moment, listening.

He can faintly hear a movie playing from the back bedroom, and he makes his way towards the sound, lost in thought.

It's the ipad abandoned on the nightstand that got his attention from the kitchen, but it's his wife and kids sprawled over the bed that arrests him now.

Kate's eyes are closed and her body on top of the covers, both kids lying over her. One of her arms circles Ellery, the other arm pulled in where Ellery is curled like a koala against Kate's ribs, feet tucked up into her chest. Dashiell's feet are practically in his mother's face, his cheek mashed against Kate's shin where he fell asleep, an arm curled around his dog at the bottom of the bed.

Rex is the only one looking at Castle.

And then he sees the thin line of Kate's smile and smiles himself. "You asleep?" he says quietly, knowing she's not.

"Yes," she murmurs.

"Liar."

Her smiles stretches and her eyes open; he moves from the doorway to sink down on the mattress at Ellery's back, leans over to softly kiss Kate's forehead. When he pulls away, her eyes have closed again.

"You bring me food?" she whispers.

"Yup. Left it in the kitchen. You hungry?"

"Little bit. Mostly warm," she smiles again, eyes flying open once more. "You hungry?"

"I have to admit. I stole some of your bread on the subway. Couldn't help myself."

"So that's a no," she murmurs, lifting a smile to his own. "And it better have been your bread anyway."

"Sure, sure. That's what it was," he scoffs, already sinking down into his side of the bed. He pushes his arm under Ellery so he can share, curls his hand at Kate's shoulder. She turns her head and brushes her mouth against his knuckles, her eyes falling closed again.

"Dash has been asleep for an hour," she says into the quiet. "I think he could do two or three. The movie kept him up a little longer than I meant for it to."

"Ella fell right to sleep?" he asks.

"Mm, little pouty, but she let me cuddle with her and that did it. Gone before the first scene was over."

His daughter's dark hair is beginning to curl at the ends in the warmth of close bodies, just past her shoulders now. She looks more and more like a kid and less like his baby every day. Castle leans in and kisses her apple cheek, rests his hand on her back.

"She's a snuggler," Castle smiles.

"She gets it honestly." Kate's fingers at Ella's elbow unfurl and brush his arm, a knowing look in her eyes. "Want the story?"

"About Dash's hysterical meltdown? Oh, do tell." Castle looms closer and finds his way to kiss the side of her neck, just past Ella's nose, blowing softly at Kate's skin to make her squirm.

She tries elbowing him but it barely makes a dent, and he props his head up on his hand and waits for her story.

"So you watched the video I sent, right?"

"Yup," Castle grinned.

"He did so good holding it together. I was shocked, honestly, because Dash was sure he was going to win the freestyle."

"And beat Miller."

"Yeah, he's got a nemesis. It's kinda cute because sometimes the two of them are best friends-"

"Thick as thieves," he adds with a snort. "I found Miller and Dash in my study building a mousetrap last week. Literally building a better mousetrap. With my helicopter, of course."

"Oh, oops, my fault," she laughs. "I was trying to get them interested in the game - Mousetrap? They thought it was boring. That Miller is a handful."

"I'm _so glad_ we met him at swimming this summer. What would we do without Miller? And his mom's hot," he teases.

"His mom is sohot," Kate laughs. They talked about this when they met Miller's mom last month. Miller's mom is not hot - she's a little creepy, actually. "This morning she must have gotten Botox right before the meet. I swear, Castle, she was cheering for her son and her face didn't move an inch."

He gives an exaggerated shudder and she shakes her head.

"Really, Miller's not bad. Funny." Kate yawns suddenly and blinks. "You know what? I think it's that we're not used to a boy who can _lie_. Miller can just outright lie to my face and I don't even catch it. When Dash breaks the rules, he's so devastated about it. He likes the rules; he sometimes likes them too much. Miller - even if fiendish - at least helps Dash loosen up."

"Yeah," he agrees. "When the two of them aren't locked in an epic battle for swimming supremacy, Miller's good for Dash. But Miller won today?"

"Even the butterfly," she admits with a grimace. "Which Dashiell knows isn't his best event, but I guess he assumed that since Miller won freestyle, he'd somehow lose the next one. Like their fates had just been reversed for today."

Castle laughs at the roll of her eyes, glances down to his son lying at the foot of the bed. "Yeah, that sounds like his kind of logic."

"Daddy's boy," she laughs.

"My leaps of logic are _insightful_ and you know it."

"Been a while since you've leaped in my precinct," she murmurs then, lifting an eyebrow at him so he gets the double meaning.

"Call me anytime, babe. I will do all kinds of leaping."

Her mouth widens into that pleased smile; her hand comes off Ellery's elbow and brushes his arm. "Might have to try that. Love to make you jump. Especially when the boys make fun of you later."

"You're so mean."

"You're so easy."

"Back to the story," he grumbles, eyes narrowed at her. She's still laughing at him, but he likes that too. "So Dash lost the butterfly."

"He was really close in that one. He got second place. He was crying before he came out of the water. _It's not fair; Miller always wins._ I mean, if it had just been his sorrow over not winning, I might have been a little more sympathetic. But he was mortifyingly honest about his rivalry with Miller."

"That had to be so embarrassing," he laughs, delighted she got stuck with the meltdown for once. He's always the one trying to explain to people that his kid isn't actually _dying_, he's just melodramatic. "We need a card. Seriously. _Please excuse our behavior; we have the issues._"

Kate laughs, a peal that shakes her whole body and causes Dashiell to stir at her feet. She clamps her mouth shut and shoots him a glare as if to say it's his fault, but Castle takes the opportunity to get up and ease their son off Kate's legs. In case she wants to eat any time soon.

Dash gives a great big sigh and one eye slides open, but he doesn't look awake. He's unseeing and staring for a moment, and then he turns his head into Rex's fur and drops off again.

"We do have the issues," Kate sighs.

"So, epic meltdown and then what?"

"I wrapped a towel around his head to shut him up."

"Around his head?" he laughs, startled.

She gives him a bared teeth smile. "Not really. But the towel did help for a second. I swaddled him, squeezed the ends together like you said. He was stunned into silence for like ten seconds, and then at least he wasn't wailing about Miller. He was just sobbing fat tears. Oh, and this is a new one - he stomped his feet, both feet. I thought he was gonna throw himself to the tile."

"Maybe they should stop playing piano up at Mother's acting studio," he muses. "He's getting too many pointers."

"Ellery was sweet to him, though," she says suddenly. "She was pissy with me all morning, but when Dash lost it, she patted his back. And when I had to hustle Dash out of there, she came right along. No whining. She did good."

He grins up at her, settles back down with Ellery between them. "She can be sweet to him when it matters."

Kate hums something, her eyes slipping shut again, and he knows it's been a long week for her - non-stop with the kids and Castle at Black Pawn all hours just so he can have the next few days off.

"Sorry you had a rough morning," he murmurs finally.

"Rough?" she says, eyes startling open. "It wasn't. I mean - Esposito called and said they had to scoop a drunk off the streets for a witness statement this morning and he's still in the tank, sobering up. I'd rather deal with a Dash meltdown any day."

"Good to know your standards for behavior are so low."

She snorts and her smile is aimed towards him as she shifts in bed. "With Dash I understand it - I know why he sometimes just loses it. That helps a lot - knowing."

"It does," he says quietly, glancing down at his sleeping son. A rare thing - napping during the day - but even so, there's a level of tension in the kid's face that shouldn't have to be there. Castle has been carefully researching medication for the last few weeks, just looking, seeing what the statistics are, what happens when kids this young start on meds. He thinks the behavior plan they have works really well, but his son has got to get more sleep.

Especially with real school in the fall.

He hasn't told Kate yet. Which isn't like him at all, but he wants to know first. Wants to dwell on it long enough to either accept it gracefully or put up a good defense against it. He kind of understands now why she works through things like she does, gathering all the information first.

Maybe she's rubbing off on him.

"Hey. We're both officially on vacation," she says then, curling her hand at his neck and patting his cheek. Her grin is wide and little devilish. "Why so serious?"

He laughs, gives her a hot look for that. "You can be such a sexy dork."

"What can I say, the Joker does it for me. That white make-up. Rawr."

He snorts and leans past Ellery to kiss Kate's chin, then he slowly gets out of bed and holds his hand out to her. "While quoting my favorite Batman movie does do it for me, I wanna eat lunch first. Before it gets cold. Come on."

She lifts her hand to his and lets him draw her to her feet with that Mona Lisa smile, and she steps over Ellery and off the bed, graceful and perfect when she comes to his side.

"I didn't get to kiss you _welcome home_," she murmurs before lifting to her toes and brushing her lips across his mouth like a sigh.


	8. Chapter 8

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

She's not melancholy; she's just tired. It's the end of a long week wrangling her lively kids, and she's still building up her endurance when it comes to non-stop Dash and Ellery.

Castle heats up their bread in the oven while she sinks down on a bar stool and tucks her foot under her thigh. The quiet is heady, makes her soporific in her chair, and she's faintly surprised when he sets a plate in front of her. Spaghetti and meatballs.

She tilts her head to smile at him, and he settles down beside her with his own plate, the last of the bread steaming on a paper towel in front of them. He runs his palm down her back as he gets comfortable, and the familiarity does its part to make her sleepier.

No good. She's got to drive them up to the Hamptons this afternoon. "How soon did you want to leave?" she asks, twirling spaghetti on her fork. Freshly made pasta at this little Italian place down the block from his office, and they use whole wheat and mix it with spinach and carrots. Heavenly. Plus, she thinks they add brown sugar to the sauce.

He's shrugging in answer as he shoves a huge bite into his mouth. She narrows her eyes at him and shakes her head, goes back to her own lunch.

After a long moment of him chewing beside her, there comes a gulping swallow. "Uh. Whenever we get our stuff together."

"I haven't even started," she admits.

"That's okay. I'm surprised I cleared my desk this early."

"Felix?"

It's silent and he's wincing when she turns to look at him. He gives her a tight smile. "There's this internet mystery game portion to it that I... The concept was great."

"Just not the execution?"

He's fiddling with his spaghetti now, cutting it with his fork, pushing it around in the sauce. He chews more slowly, and she wonders when he started weighing his words with her. And why.

"Castle, it's okay to hate it."

He shrugs one shoulder this time. "I don't." He huffs out a breath at what must be the incredulous look on her face and he drops his fork, leans back in the chair. "I don't hate it. But it does require an inordinate amount of work on my part, and the idea that all of our authors have to sit down with our team and pore over these details just for a twenty second video clip... I don't know how sustainable that is in the long run."

Understanding dawns and Kate can't help the laugh that bubbles up. "It was your idea. The whole thing. And now you want to scratch it."

He sighs. "Yeah, all my idea. But kill it? Eh, not sure."

"The videos look good?"

He fidgets, a little squirm in his chair that Kate thinks he's actually picked up _from_ Dashiell, rather than the other way around. It's cute. Makes the crow's feet at his eyes deepen, makes his mouth look kissable. She restrains herself.

Barely. "Castle, what's wrong with the videos?"

"Nothing wrong exactly. They're high quality. They're interactive, fun. I just can't envision how a twelve year old kid is going to _care_. Or participate like we want."

"Well," she starts slowly. "It's a mystery - every video is a clue, right?"

He nods. He looks eager for someone to dispel his sense of unease over the promotional material, and she realizes suddenly that it's a pretty huge responsibility on his shoulders. The success of Black Pawn means continued employment for around fifty people in the office, as well as contracts with authors and freelance designers and writers. She wonders if this is the first time he's had that kind of weight, the first time she's seen him with lives in his hands.

Other than the 12th, of course. Though the responsibility for that always rested on her, ultimately.

He rubs his forehead and she can practically see the grooves where he's been doing it all day long. "It's a daisy chain, makes you go from one video to the next, but it's geared towards getting kids out in the city. Each clue has a geographic element to it, but I worry about the kids who don't live New York, or who expect to be able to walk around their little town in Arkansas and find those same easter eggs."

"Okay," she murmurs, reaching out to lay her hand on his thigh. "That's a good point. But the city-based clues aren't necessary to figure out the overall mystery?"

"No," he says, shaking his head. His eyes are weary; she wonders if this was a good idea, buying Black Pawn and taking it on. Does he need stress like this? Do they? It hasn't been easy these last few months, and when everything was going down with her mother's case, she's not sure they managed it. In fact, she's pretty sure that the kids fell through the cracks that week, pretty certain their family is still settling after that damage.

But they can do this. They can. She narrows her eyes and thinks through the problem. "Well, Felix is a kid detective who's forced outside his neighborhood, has to discover his city. I love that about it. So when the book does come out, there should be a way for the kids reading it to connect with each other too."

He grows still, a pause layering between them as she collects her thoughts. And then he gives a soft breath. "Connect. What do you mean by that?"

"If the kids who live in New York get cool add-ons, maybe that pushes them to keep going with it when others would stop. That generates talk, you know. They share with their friends online, post pictures and ask for help. So even if a kid doesn't live in the city, he might be collaborating with someone who does through chat or facebook-"

"Oh," he gasps, his body straightening in the chair. His eyes are excited as he turns to her. "That's genius, Kate. A website. Or no - wait - we'll use tumblr like John Green. Just a place where we can collect all the cool things that are out there and also see how the whole thing is being received. They can ask us questions - or no, no, wait. Ask _Felix _questions. Oh, this is absolute genius."

His eyes dart to hers with a grin that looks guilty and she realizes he's pulling out his phone. She waves him on. "Go, go. Email or whatever."

"You're awesome, babe," he praises, leaning in to kiss her cheek roughly. And then he's lost to his phone again, getting up from the bar and leaving her to lunch alone.

That's okay; the silence is nice for a change.

* * *

They're still not packing.

He's lying on the couch with Kate's body half sprawled over his as he sends email to Matt and Kim about the prospective tumblr concept; they send mock-ups with every new suggestion he has, and he keeps eagerly showing her their ideas.

Kate's not _that_ interested, he thinks, but she humors him. She's reading from her phone with her head pillowed on the arm of the couch near his elbow, one of his legs stretched out between hers. Not sure how they wound up like this, but it's warm and cozy. He likes it, likes the weight of her on him.

She shifts in his lap and he grunts in surprise; she pats his chest apologetically with her free hand, wriggles to get a better position. He slits one eye and glares down at her and she starts laughing.

"Sorry, sorry," she murmurs. "Didn't mean to get you excited."

He can't hold the glare, feels his lips threatening a smile. "Uh-huh. You're such a tease."

"Go back to work," she murmurs, but this time the way she's digging her backside into his lap can _only_ be purposeful.

"Go back to work?" he mutters, clamping one hand on her hip and feeling the bare skin where her shirt has ridden up, feeling it practically burn his palm. "I can't. You're too hot."

She gives him a tantalizing smile, sits up enough to hook her arm around his neck, a light kiss along his lips. "I'm warm, yes, because my husband is like a furnace and he's piled up a fleece blanket-"

"To keep my back from getting all twisted up sitting weird on the couch like-"

"And so, yes," she keeps going, her mouth close to his, skimming the scant air between them. "I'm hot."

"Sexy and you know it," he tries to joke, but the tease has degenerated into a serious desperation. He lets his phone drop to the cushion beside his thigh and strokes a hand up her back to pull her tighter. She stills holds herself away, a thin veneer of indifferent air between them, and then he touches her bare spine with his fingers under her shirt.

She unfolds before him, shifting to straddle his lap, arms lifted to his shoulders, her chest brushing his as her kiss unmakes him. Slow, curious, arousing. He gathers the lines of her ribs from thumb to fingers, one after each other, and her body presses closer and closer with each rung.

When he finds the winged edge of her shoulder blade and she ripples in his arms, he presses his mouth to her neck and tries to close his eyes, tries to rein it back.

"Kids are in our bed," she sighs, understanding.

"Guest room?" he murmurs, half-hoping, letting his nearness do the persuading.

She wavers; he can feel the debate slipping out of her control as her body goes on believing. She squeezes her knees at his hips and then slides off him, scraping a hand through her hair with a flash of a look his direction that he might interpret as blame.

"Guest room," she gets out, and the hitch in her voice tells him how close she is.

Castle stands swiftly on his feet, hustles her up the stairs.

"But we have to pack after," she warns, her fingers reaching back to hook in the placket of his dress shirt and tug him along.

"Of course," he promises, eager to be tugged.

* * *

"Write me another poem," she finds herself murmuring into his skin. He grunts from beside her and his hand falters at her back. She feels stupid for saying it. "Never mind."

"No, no," he hushes. "I'll write you anything."

"I didn't mean to-"

"I like your post-coital confessions," he murmurs. She shifts her head and sees the smirk dancing in his eyes. But his face is equally as exhausted as hers. She didn't mean to make that round so enthusiastic - or demanding - but it's been a week since...

She gives up. "Write me another poem then," she says, shifting now to lie on her back and cool off. His arm is trapped under her neck, his elbow cradling her head, and his hand comes up then to let his fingers dapple across her forehead and cheek.

"A poem." His fingers make her feel raw.

"Like you wrote for me last year when-"

"I can do that," he says. His voice is husky like before, this time a tenderness lacing the edges rather than command, and she turns her head away to kiss the inside of his wrist, the meat of his palm.

"Don't stress over it, though," she asks.

"I won't."

She nods and shifts again, curling on her side with her back to him, and he takes her invitation immediately, spoons at her spine with his arms loose around her, his knees touching the back of her thighs.

She feels a kiss at the base of her neck, a dusting along her vertebrae, and she closes her eyes despite herself. A week since they had the space and quiet to find each other, and maybe that's why the good-bye kiss in the hallway was filled with promises they just fulfilled.

"The freckles on your shoulder-"

"To _read_, Castle," she huffs, but she draws his arm a little tighter to offset the petulance in her demand. "I want to read your poem. All by myself."

He laughs then, the chuckle shimmering at her ribs where it echoes out of his chest. "All right, all right. I got it."

She smiles, her fingers tangled with his, and he kisses her shoulder again, the tip of his tongue out - probably to the freckles from this summer - before he settles behind her.

"Don't fall asleep," he murmurs.

"You don't fall asleep," she sighs back.

But he is; she is. They are.

She was supposed to be packing.


	9. Chapter 9

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

The ringing calls him slowly from his doze, a tantalizing pinprick of awareness that slides inside the cocoon of his dreams and pierces his mind.

Uh-oh.

Castle jerks awake and sits upright, the comforter from the guest bed falling in a puddle in his lap, and he breathes harshly for a second before he figures it out.

Phone. Downstairs.

Packing.

"Kate," he grunts, shoving past her to climb out of bed and look for clothes. "Kate."

She mumbles something and turns over, but he grabs her by the calf and tugs her towards him, her body angled in the bed as she comes.

"Ug, Castle," she mutters, kicking at him.

"Now I know where Ellery gets it from," he mutters. "Kate. It's nearly two. Come on. Packing."

She groans and sits up; he can't help feathering his fingers behind her knee as she does, just to watch her squirm, see the flutter of awareness that transforms her for an instant into that Queen of Sheba in his bed again. And then she leans over and swipes her underwear from the floor and starts to get dressed.

Okay, so the mystery is gone, but not the allure. At least that's something.

He wriggles into his boxers and finds his jeans, but his shirt is nowhere. She shrugs at him and motions towards the hall; he ducks out and yeah, there it is. Near the stairs. Wow, that one smacked of desperation.

Castle takes the steps fast, his bare feet slapping against each one, and then he finds his phone tucked between the couch cushions.

"Hey," he calls back. "It was Alexis."

"Shoot," he hears her on the stairs. "I forgot to call her back. Let me do that right now."

Kate brushes her hair off her neck, holding it with a hand, but she doesn't seem to have a rubber band for it. She's reaching past him for her own phone left on the coffee table and he remembers vividly how her neck tasted under him, the close heat of her in the bed.

Never mind. They still have mystery. He wants some of that mystery right now.

"Not-uh," she mutters, pushing him away with her elbow, her shoulder, dislodging his unconscious attempt to get his hands on her again. "I have to call your daughter. Stop it."

He sneaks a kiss anyway, his mouth at that spicy place at her skin, but then he lets her go, scrolling through his missed calls on his phone. More than one, actually, all from Black Pawn though it was only the last one that woke him. He half hears Kate greeting Alexis on the phone, and he sinks back down to the couch to get work under control again.

* * *

Allie sounds - not herself.

"Okay," Kate says slowly, sifting clean underwear from Dashiell's drawer. "Okay, so... what's this really about?"

"I just - I think it should be easy. Why is this such a big deal to him?"

Kate can't seriously believe that Allie is about to cry over _this_. It has to be a mask for something else in their relationship, or a convenient outlet for stress she's been sublimating. This is why Kate didn't want to try to plan a wedding back when Castle proposed, why they were engaged for over a year before she woke up one morning and did it all in a couple of days' time. At the lake. Clean and simple. Kidnapped her own maid of honor, too.

Weddings are never easy - they are always stress. And Allie's been acting so cheerful and light, Kate knew the time would come for a breakdown.

"Allie, just take a breath," she murmurs. "It's fine. It really will be fine."

"I'm supposed to marry this idiot," she growls. "Why can't he just listen to me, do what I want?"

Kate tosses a stack of superhero briefs towards the open suitcase in the middle of Dashiell's floor, tucks the phone between her ear and her shoulder. "Did you talk to him about this since you fought?"

"He fights me every time. I told him he's not the one who has to come home exhausted and then try to clean up _his_ mess."

Kate winces. "Why do you have to be the one to do the cleaning?"

"Exactly!" Allie cries out.

Whoa, okay. Kate tugs open the kid's bottom drawer, hunting for shorts. "Allie, I mean - _why_ are you doing the cleaning? If you're exhausted, just don't do it."

"That's why I want us to hire a maid," Allie fumes. "Why is this so hard for people to understand? You guys have Linda. Dad and Meredith both always had someone come in to clean every week. All my friends whose parents both worked-"

"My parents didn't," Kate remarks casually, tossing Dash's cute plaid shorts towards the suitcase.

"They - didn't? But your parents are - were well off."

"They were. Papa is, yes, but he and Kelly don't have a maid either."

"You have a maid," Allie bites out, sounding wounded and defensive. Kate hasn't heard her like this since... that year Kate busted her for smoking pot. She sounds a little childish, actually.

"Can you tell me why Rafe doesn't want a maid?" she says instead, hoping to steer this conversation back to some compassion. Trick she remembers from therapy. "What did he tell you?"

"He says it's a waste of money and - and - it's lazy."

Ouch. Okay. "I don't believe it's lazy, necessarily," Kate hedges. "Though in the beginning, I think my attitude was similar to Rafe's."

"What? Why? How did Daddy convince you to hire Linda?"

"Well, I arrested Linda," Kate says dryly, rolling her eyes. She throws four more pairs of shorts towards the suitcase, knowing Dash will most likely ruin a couple of them. Never fails.

"You arrested her? I don't remember that."

"Person of interest in one of our cases. I think Dash was only a few months old, but your dad was hanging around the 12th that day. Right before his book release. I guess Papa had Dashiell, or maybe Gram. I don't remember now. But your dad wanted to help Linda." She smiles, brushing her fingers to her bottom lip. He's always been generous like that.

"How did Linda go from person of interest in a murder case to your _maid_?"

Kate grins, resumes thumbing through Dashiell's clean shirts for Hamptons outfits for him. "She was just down on her luck, trying to make ends meet and perhaps not following the letter of the law with a few things."

"Like what?"

Kate hesitates, a stack of Dashiell's favorite t-shirts in her hand. "I... don't think Linda would appreciate me saying."

"Oh my word. Are you serious? She was a prostitute?"

Kate groans and dumps the shirts in the suitcase, closes it up. "No. Not a prostitute. Jeez, Allie. How your mind works."

"If not that, then what? I've seen a lot. How bad could it be?"

Kate frowns, pressing her lips together as she drags the rolling suitcase into Ellery's room. It's not about what Allie has already been exposed to; it's about Linda's dignity. Allie must really be upset if she isn't able to keep that in mind. "Linda was working as a phone sex operator, which is legal. But - uh - doing a little moonlighting that wasn't. Complicated case, never mind, Allie. I really shouldn't say."

"Holy sh-"

"Allie."

"Right, right, you can't say. Got it. But you hired her to clean and do groceries?"

"No, that was your father."

"But why did you agree to it? Because if I can tell Rafe that you went along with it for some specific reason, he'd listen. He thinks you're golden; you can do no wrong."

Kate yanks on Ellery's drawer, has to work at it because it's somehow stuck. "Allie. We think alike. That's all."

"That works for me. I don't care - just tell me how I can convince him."

Kate's honestly not sure she's completely on Allie's side about the maid idea, but that could still be her own parents' influence, their sense that a person ought to clean up after himself and do an honest day's work and keep it in the family, close ranks around those dirty little secrets. She's learned over time that the Becketts' natural reservation doesn't work for everyone, and most definitely not anyone named Castle.

This might be the case here as well.

"Mom, please. We're getting _married_ and sometimes when I get home and see all his dishes strewn over the counters - which he won't even let me touch - and his laundry piled up in the hallway, I want to kill him. I want to actually throttle him. And then you'd arrest me."

"Oh, no," she laughs. "I wouldn't. I'd coordinate a time and place for you to turn yourself in, Allie."

That gets her a choked laugh back, a release of tension down the line, and Kate smiles, finally works the drawer free. Ellery is supposed to put away her clean clothes - just like Dash; it's part of their chores - but apparently she's been stuffing every single item into this bottom drawer.

"Okay, so here's how your father got me," Kate starts, sifting through clothes as she searches for everything she needs for baby girl. "Your dad already had someone when I moved in. But I refused to let her pick up after me or do the grocery shopping."

"I don't remember that."

"It was an epic but silent battle," Kate laughs. "Eventually Castle was sneaking her into the loft when I was gone to do the cleaning, and after I moved in for good the second time-"

"Oh, jeez, I remember that."

Kate sighs, finds Ellery's dragon sweatshirt balled up in the back and yanks it free. "Yeah, that was about a month before Dash was born and your dad and I compromised. I'd allow the deep cleaning, but we'd do our own laundry, our dishes, pick up after ourselves."

"Oh. Huh. Rafe said the same thing, actually. That he might consider hiring someone to do the vacuuming and dusting and baseboards. But doesn't Linda grocery shop and like - make the beds and stuff?"

"She doesn't make the beds. Dash and Ella are in charge of that, as well as putting away their laundry. Also, we make Dashiell fold and carry up the towels because it's good work for him-"

"Therapy you mean? That motor-sensory, proprioceptive work."

"Yeah. And because of that, we make Ellery pick up the toys in the living room and the study."

"She's three."

"She's competent," Kate snorts. "You sound like your dad. A three year olds isn't incapable of helping out, learning to be responsible for herself and where she lives. Especially my three year old."

"Okay, okay. I can tell you guys have had this conversation a few times."

Kate starts counting the little piles of underwear she's uncovered from Ellery's overfull bottom drawer. "We fight a lot about the kids. Just like you and Rafe are fighting now. Doesn't go away, Allie; it just morphs into a new thing."

Allie groans.

"You want to know what sent me over the edge? After your dad and I agreed to our compromise, we decided we'd alternate weeks doing laundry. He was used to doing it so it wasn't like I was adding some burden to his shoulders, or so I thought. But when it was my week, I'd open up his dresser drawers to put away stuff and find everything wadded up and dumped inside. I'd hang things up in our closet and my dress shirts would be wrinkled, the pants folded incorrectly."

"Jeez, anal much?"

Kate lifts an eyebrow even though Allie can't see it. "Apple doesn't fall far from the tree," she murmurs. "And it looks like Ellery has inherited those messy tendencies as well." She digs another pair of underwear out of the mess and dumps what she could find into the kids' suitcase.

"You said he folded your pants wrong. Come on, Mom."

"It puts the creases on the sides instead of the front," Kate mutters back. "Never mind. See if I help you."

Allie utters a sharp, breathless laugh. "Oh no, no, you wouldn't! Mom, please."

Kate opens Ellery's closet and pulls down a couple of sundresses. "Really, that's what did it. Our two versions of what was acceptable in cleanliness and order just weren't the same. My threshold for a dirty kitchen floor is much higher than your Dad's. He was always sweeping up, mopping, but I didn't care. Didn't bother me. But every other week, his laundry made me want to... well, throttle him."

"So, basically, you caved."

"Yes," Kate states baldly. "I caved. Because life is short and Linda needed a good job and I thought I might actually kill my baby's father before he ever got a chance to know him. Plus Dashiell wasn't an easy baby and we were both exhausted all the time. Everything was a fight, there were a lot of tears and misunderstandings, and having a maid to come in and take at least one thing off our plate seemed heavenly."

"Oh, Kate," Allie laughs softly. "I think your advice is either to go on strike and stop doing laundry altogether, or get pregnant with a sensitive kid and run ourselves so ragged we welcome a little help."

"Your choice," Kate says brightly. "Does that sound too miserable? We weren't miserable - I don't think. I don't know. I was sleepless for so much of his first year of life that it's kind of a big blur."

"I think you guys had your moments, but no. Not miserable. I was there for most of it, remember?"

"I remember. You were such a huge help. Baby-sitter for Dash and for us too. Hey, I'm not serious about getting pregnant. You have plenty of time, Allie."

"I'll keep that in my back pocket as a last ditch effort. I understand where you're coming from about the maid, but I think I _will_ stop doing laundry. Until I make him desperate for clean underwear. He'd probably just do it himself but meanwhile I've had to live with dirty clothes piled up on our floor, the hallway, the living room."

"Well. It will at least show him how much work you're having to do on top of your real job. And that's not fair - to either of you."

"It's not that I mind, really," Allie sighs. "He looked so wounded when I told him I was sick of him dumping his clothes on the floor. Like I didn't want to take care of him. But... um, I don't want to take care of him, Mom."

Kate grunts as she shoves the dresser drawer closed. "That's fine. You don't want to marry a child. I happened to fall in love with a man who _is_ quite often a child, so I know how old that can get-"

"Hey, now, I heard that!"

Kate whirls around and sees Castle standing in the doorway of Ellery's room, eyes narrowed at her, hands on his hips. She laughs and backs up even as he stalks towards her, holding her hand up to keep him away.

"Oh, no. No, no."

"Quite often a child, huh?"

"I'm talking to your daughter," she laughs, slipping away from him but driving herself into a corner. Castle comes closer, his hands gripping her hips and his thumbs tunneling under her shirt.

"Quite often a child," he mutters, and his mouth dips to her neck, makes her go still, thoughtless. "Show you."

"Mom? Mom, tell him to let you go. You're helping me with wedding stuff. Pre-wedding stuff."

Kate sucks in a slow, shaky breath, but she doesn't want to make him let her go. She cants into Castle's broad hands, her shoulders wedged into the corner of Ellery's room, one of his knees sliding between her thighs.

"Who's the child now?" he whispers.

"Mo-o-om," Allie complains.

"Um, Allie... ah, I think... you need to talk to him about dividing up the workload. That's - that's the best you're gonna get right now."

"But surely I can bring up hiring someone to do deep cleaning-"

"Allie. Meant that's the best from me. I'm - gonna have to let you go."

She hears her daughter's melodramatic sigh on the other end but Castle's tongue has started a wicked dance at her pulse that echoes in her hips, and she drops the phone from her ear, tilts her head back to breathe.

"Hang up the phone, Kate."

Oh, yes. Yes, that.


	10. Chapter 10

** A Dash of Summer**

* * *

When Castle gets shoved towards the stairs with the command to behave and wake up his kids, he doesn't really mind. He was mostly making a point; he's too tired to get up to much misbehaving these days.

Wow, that's a depressing thought. Did he get old?

Castle treads the hall lightly, sneaking into his bedroom so he won't disturb the kids just yet. Dashiell is still sprawled at the foot of the bed, arms outflung, legs akimbo, but Ellery is a tight little ball on his pillow, the bow of her mouth untied in slack surrender. The dog is on the floor at the end of the bed as well, watching Castle as he stands in the doorway.

"Hey, Rex," he whispers. He gets a wag of the tail in greeting and then Rex lumbers up, a wide yawn and a deep stretch back onto his hind legs. He looks old too, worse for the wear, and Castle leans over and rubs the dog's ears and ruff, strokes him until Rex is leaning against his leg and making that purring growl in his chest.

Castle checks the time, debates which kid to disturb first. Dash will have trouble falling asleep tonight no matter how long he naps, so it can't hurt to curl up with his baby girl and wake her slowly. She'll sleep tonight without any trouble; she should probably be taking naps every day but her preschool teacher says she's too 'engaged' to fall asleep.

That must be good, right? His little mini-Kate is engaged in the world.

Castle sits down on his side the bed and slides his arm under Ellery's curled up body, brings her easily into his lap, all awkward, thin-limbed three year old. Nearly four. She mumbles something in her sleep and her face presses against his ribs, but she doesn't wake.

"Ella," he murmurs, dipping down to press a kiss to her forehead. Sweaty with sleep, a bruised knee sticking up, a scratched elbow tucked into her chest. She fell off the monkey bars a couple weeks ago while he was with them but she never told a soul; another parent at the playground came over and let him know. When Ellery sprinted up to him, begging for water, pushing her hair out of her face, he saw she'd gotten a black eye as well. It's just begun to fade.

Fierce little thing, coltish with her long limbs. So much like Kate that he can see his wife in every movement, can imagine her in every tantrum and stubborn silence. It gives him an insight into Beckett that he never expected - the little girl of her, the wounded heart.

"Ella, time to wake up," he says louder, rubbing his hand over her back. Her shirt wrinkles under his palm and she moans something like _no, daddy_. She's more awake than she wants to be. "We've got to get on the road. Allie's getting married."

Her head pops up from his chest, eyes squinting, blinking hard. "My Allie?"

"And Rafe. Tomorrow, remember?"

"Oh, the beautiful wedding," she breathes, struggling now to coordinate, her fingers gripping his shirt. She sits up in his lap, rubs her eyes with her fists. "I do want to go and wear my dress."

"Mommy's packing it up, but I can get you some lunch. We have time for that."

"You make my favorite?"

"Only if you ask me with your big girl words."

"Can you make me my favorite, Daddy?" She gives him an adorable look that's all liquid blue eyes and pushes her hair back off her face, adding a little tuck behind her ears that makes his vision flash with an image of Kate doing the exact same. Uncanny. She's got a smart mouth like her mother too.

"Peanut butter and jelly and Doritos sandwich, coming up," he grins back, kissing her nose. "Now go help Mommy while I wake your brother."

She wrinkles that nose and slides off his lap, goes running down the hall at a pace so fast her hair flies out behind her. She's still not as tall as the other kids in her class - perils of being born premature - and still skinny despite that round-cheeked face, but she's already gotten so adult looking. A big kid. He misses his baby already.

His last baby girl.

Oh, jeez, Alexis is getting married tomorrow.

* * *

"Rick, what's this?"

He glances back down the hall and sees Kate in their bedroom, obstacled by the plastic tub he pulled out but didn't want to drag to the entryway. From the study, he takes a quick look to the kitchen but the kids are happily arguing over who gets to sit on which side of the car while they eat their lunch, and he rushes back to the bedroom, closing the door again.

"Shh," he hisses. "Not so loud. I don't want Dash to see it."

"What is it?" she says, nudging it with her foot. It doesn't budge. "It's huge. What's in there?"

Castle reaches out and takes the handle of their suitcase from her, rolls it around towards the door. "It's just laser tag gear," he says quickly.

"You're not taking that," she blurts out.

"I am," he insists. His throat closes up on the words. "One last game."

Kate sighs, sinks down to the edge of the bed. "Castle."

"Before she gets married," he defends, shrugging his shoulders and studying the beat-up tub with its crooked top. it doesn't close too good now that Dashiell's vest and laser tag gun are in there as well, and at some point, there will be Ellery's to cram inside, and probably - if he's honest with himself - he'll have to get a bigger tub and figure out a different way to store it and it won't ever be the same again.

"Rick, I want you to be prepared," Kate starts slowly. "It's possible Alexis won't have time to play laser tag with you tonight."

"Or I thought tomorrow morning before... everything gets crazy."

"Um, I think maybe it's already pretty crazy."

He glances up at her, sees that hesitant, apologetic look on her face, and he rubs his hand along his jaw. "Well. I want to try. Maybe. I... could you just help me keep it from Dash?"

She glances to the tub. "How exactly do you think we're going to hide that from your nosy son?"

"Ah..."

"Or my nosy daughter," she adds, lips quirking up.

"Yeah. Uh." He scratches the back of his neck and puts his hands on his hips. "That's why I need your help. Dashiell will be crushed if he knows we're playing without him."

Kate stands from the bed, moves to pat his chest consolingly. "Well, if you agree to do damage control if he does find out, I'll help you hide it from him."

"Oh, good, thanks. Thanks, Kate."

Her elbow digs into his ribs for a second before she slides her hand up and cups the side of his face, brings him down for a soft brush of lips. "You really okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm excited for her. Rafe's a good guy - a great guy."

"But you're sad."

He ducks his head to hers and closes his eyes. "A little sad."

"It's okay to be sad," she murmurs. "Someone really smart told me that back in February. When my dad remarried. And then he told me to get over it."

He chuckles against her - she sounds so facetious - but her hand gentles again on his neck, and she wraps him in a loose embrace.

"I'm serious, Rick. You raised a beautiful woman, and you should be proud of her. But she's not yours to take care of any more. She's Rafe's."

He sighs, all his words of explanation deserting him at the picture she paints. Alexis is a grown woman with a job and an apartment and (nearly) a husband; she's going to start her own family and the days of Allie dropping by for a sleepover with her brother and sister or opening presents with them on Christmas morning like a little kid are coming to an end. It will be different - good, of course, and how it should be. But not the same.

"I'm kinda sad too," Kate murmurs. Her voice is so quiet that she sounds like Ella, guarding her heart. But then she comes up on her toes, pushes a hard kiss to his mouth with a squeeze to his neck, then lets him go. "So when we're alone, totally okay to be a mopey mess all over me. But out there - you gotta nix it."

"Right," he nods. Apparently she's straightened him out now. He shakes his head and cracks a grin at her, at all the ways she really does try - even if it's a little direct for him. "Nix it. How exactly do I do that?"

She tilts her head and crosses her arms over her chest; she knows he's making fun of her. "Compartmentalize. Duh."

"Did you just _duh_ me like our five year old?"

She winks, pushes on his shoulders to turn him around. "We don't have time for much more of your melodrama, Rick. Gotta get on the road. Round up the kids."

"Slave driver, jeez." He grabs the suitcase and opens the door, feeling her behind him. "Here I am in a real personal crisis and you're slapping my ass and sending me out on the field."

"Cheer up, stud. Think of it like this. Our house is gonna be filled with all your favorite people - people who love our kids and will want to dote on them and take them around and bask in their cuteness. And meanwhile-"

"Ooh, I always love it when there's a meanwhile."

"Meanwhile," she says, pressing in close to him in the hallway. "You and I can sneak off to the stables. Or the pool room. Or - oh - the theatre room." Her breath is hot against his ear as her teeth nip. "I'm the only one with the keys to all those places."

"Have I said I love your devious mind? I love your devious mind," he growls.

She arches her eyebrow and then she really does slap his butt and send him out on the field.

He hops to it with a laugh, calling out as he goes. "Come on, kids! Time to hit the road." Hmm, the dark theatre room, the excuse of watching some stupid romantic comedy. Maybe late Sunday tonight they can sneak down to the ocean too, go skinny-dipping.

Yeah, skinny dipping.

"Hey, Kate?" he calls. She pauses at the bottom of the stairs. "Don't forget to pack your birthday suit."

"Daaaa-ddyyy. What's a birthday suit?"

Whoops.


	11. Chapter 11

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

"Dad, did you see the helicopter?"

"Where?" Castle asks, startled by the sudden question. The elevator dings and opens up onto the basement parking garage. "Come on, grab a bag and help me drag this stuff to the car."

"Don't drag it," Kate sighs. Ellery is clinging to her again, legs wrapped around Kate's ankle. Neither of them understand this new behavior, only that it's annoying. "Ella, be a big girl and walk, please."

"The news chopper right outside our window." Dash shrugs and starts lugging a bag, swinging it only to drag it a few feet, swing it again.

Castle is extremely disconcerted by the idea that a news helicopter was right outside their window and he never noticed. Although with Dash, the helicopter could've been clear downtown and Dash only heard it - never saw it - and in a range of frequency that no neurotypical person would have heard anyway. "How do you know it wasn't a medical chopper?"

"No red cross on it."

"They don't all have crosses," he says back. Dashiell is duck-walking the heavy bag across the garage, but Kate doesn't seem to notice. She's stuck at the elevators with Ellery, who seems to be having a little meltdown back there.

Castle hustles away, hoisting the last of their bags higher on his shoulder but letting Dash have his own way.

"Dad, it was the news."

"Why was it right outside our window?"

"Well, not really right outside. I said that for effect."

Holy... what? "You were lying?"

"No!" Dashiell jumps, a panicky look crawling across his face. "Not lying. For effect. For effect. You said you could do that in stories. You _said_-"

"Right, exaggeration for effect. You remember what that's called?"

"Yes. Boasting."

Castle chuckles, can't help it because the kid is technically right. "Mom tell you that?"

"She says it's not good sport to boast."

"It's not."

"Miller boasts all the time." He says Miller like it's a dirty word.

"Right, well, Miller isn't a good sport. But you are. Aren't you?"

Dashiell sighs heavily, like this is his burden and lot in life. Castle can't contain the smile on his face; it keeps cracking through his mouth. He has to turn his head away as he opens the trunk and starts rearranging the stuff they've crammed inside, hoping to keep Dash from seeing the big tub of laser tag gear.

"And it's hyperbole, by the way," he adds, his head half in the trunk. "Hyperbole."

"The helicopter was really way down. I think something was going on."

"Probably so. Always something going on in New York," Castle mumbles, draping the hanging clothes bag across the tub and turning for the last of their bags. All the kids' stuff. "Hand me that?"

Dashiell hands up the smaller one, looking so puffed up and proud of himself for helping. "I want to drive a helicopter."

"Oh yeah?"

"It looks cool. A big bubble and the headset. Like your helicopter but way way huger."

"You broke my helicopter when you were about two. Climbing the bookcase."

Dash curls a little grin. "I did."

"Yup. You know - I've been in one before, with your mom."

"Yeah? Did you drive it?"

"Fly it? No. But I flew one once when I thought I wanted to get my license. It turned out to be a lot harder than I thought so I quit." Castle frowns. "Not a smart thing to do though - you should never quit just because something gets hard."

Dashiell is looking at him like he's insane. Right, enough of the morality lesson. Why is it that all of his stories from his pre-Beckett days end up as morality tales? Jeez, it's embarrassing.

"I want to drive all the things," Dashiell says suddenly. "Helicopter. Front end loader. That big truck that comes with the beer for your bar. That guy gets to open up the sidewalk and go straight down to the tunnels."

Castle glances down at him, sees his longing face, the crazy amount of _yearning_ that no five year old should be able to feel. Can his kid really want something so badly - and so out of the blue?

"You do, huh?" He doesn't know what to say to that. "Your mom's a lot like you, Dash. It's a good feeling, to have control of this big machine, make it do what you want."

"Go where you want, as fast you want," Dash says, something like relish in his voice. _As fast as you want._ Ah, perhaps this is about not winning the swim meet?

"Dad, I want to drive. Your car."

"Uh, well, son..." He glances to Kate but she's wrestling with Ellery, now something about _I have to go back_, and he's on his own here. "I think you've got to get your license first."

"What about mom's motorcycle?"

Whoa. He didn't know the kids even knew Kate still has the motorcycle. "Yeah, you need a license for that too."

"But the car at least - can you teach me?" Dash asks, reaching for the strap of another bag and trying to hoist it over his shoulder. Castle lets him help, watches his kid struggle at the open trunk of their Audi. He can't possibly lift it inside, but the work helps orient his system, so he'll let him have at it for a little while. "Dad. You can teach me, right?"

"When it's time, I can teach you."

"Today?"

"Have you ever driven before?" he asks, not sure _why_ he's asking, only that there's this really terrible sense of certainty in Dashiell's tone which makes Castle wonder.

"Just at preschool."

"Really?"

"They have this car on the playground."

Oh, right. That thing made of plastic and the wheel, right. Okay. That's better. "Yeah. Though, I'm thinking that's not going to give you quite enough real-world road experience, my man."

"It's what?"

"Driving on the street is a lot different. In a car with an engine."

"But there's that cool video game I got."

"Again... the engine makes things a lot different," he repeats, raising an eyebrow down at his son.

"But you can teach me."

Dash sounds so confident of it that it makes Castle feel pretty confident himself. He glances back to the elevator where Kate is trying to silly their daughter out of her tantrum. He can't recall what she might have forgotten upstairs, but Kate's rule is firm. No going back.

And then he gets an idea.

"Hey, Dash," he says, squatting down beside his son. "You know the golf carts we have at the Hamptons house?"

Dashiell perks up, drops the strap of the too-heavy bag. "Yeah? You said they're Andy's. He fixes everything."

"Yeah, Andy's our maintenance guy. He'll be there this weekend, actually. But I'll teach you to drive one of those. You can sit in my lap - cause I don't think your feet will reach the pedals - and we'll take it out behind the stables and let you have at it."

"Really?" he breathes, as if he can barely dare to hope.

"Just don't tell your mother," he adds, flashing another quick look to Kate. "At least not until after we're done."

"Mom would be mad?"

"Mom would... not understand at first," he hedges. His own mother taught him to drive when he was about Dashiell's age, took him out somewhere upstate during summer stock theatre. The car was an actor friend's, a beat-up Dodge Charger - he has no idea why the guy let his mother have it, unless maybe he was infatuated with her - and Rick sat in her lap and steered while his mother worked the pedals.

"I can drive the golf cart, really? Andy won't get mad either?"

"Really. And they belong to me anyway - I bought them for Andy to use. Just - we'll have to do it after the wedding, okay? And you have to keep quiet. Don't talk about it."

"Not even Ellie?"

Castle winces and glances back to the girls again. Secrets are not cool; they've had this conversation, and usually it's all on his side of things, him telling her to stop being so hidden in everything she does, stop keeping things to herself that affect him. This is going to come back to bite him.

But his kid should have that - the power of the steering wheel, making a huge machine do his bidding, control and dominance. Dash is a kid that doesn't have a lot of control over things and yet he needs it so badly. It'd be good for him. And Castle _remembers_ it, that feeling, remembers how it was to have that surge of power.

"Not Ellery either," he says finally. "Not until after we've gone for a drive. It'll be a guy thing, you and me."

Dashiell looks solemn, wise beyond his years, as if he knows exactly what they're getting themselves into. "Okay," he says, quickly. "I can be quiet as the dead."

Castle laughs as he stands, hefts the heavy bag into the trunk of the car. "Quiet as the dead? Who taught you that?"

Dashiell screws up his face and tilts his head at his father, already disappearing back into a little kid again. "I don't know. I just say stuff, Dad."

* * *

"I'll drive," he tells her when she reaches for the keys.

Kate stops, arrested by the solicitousness in his voice, but she guesses he's trying to make up for sticking her with Ellery when their daughter was having a fit over Lincoln's travel cage. "Okay," she agrees, dropping her hand.

Castle grins quickly and kisses her cheek, a kind of unexpected move, but Kate just shakes her head and turns for the passenger side instead. She opens the door and does a quick check on all the Castle pets.

Poor Rex. He doesn't seem to mind the floorboard exactly, but it can't be comfortable to have Dashiell kicking him every five seconds. It might be time to give the Audi up, get something a little more flexible for these weekend trips to the Hamptons. They've been going a lot lately and two growing kids and two pets just makes things crowded.

"Dash," she calls back. "Keep your feet still. For Rex."

"Oh, oops. Sorry, Rex," he sing-sings, leaning so far over the seat belt chokes him as he tries to get at Rex.

"Actually," Kate frowns. "If you'd sit correctly in your seat, you wouldn't kick Rex at all. Sit up."

He wriggles the booster into place again, putting his shoulder under the seatbelt where it should go, and Kate scans the backseat for Lincoln's travel cage. The lid is off.

"Ellery," she hisses, twisting around in her seat to pin her daughter with a fierce rebuke. "Put him back. Right now."

Ellery's face crumples in an instant, and Kate wants to quit. Give up. Go home. They haven't even started, but if this is what it's going to be like-

"I got it," Castle murmurs. "Start the car for me, plug in the ipod. I got her."

Thank God. She'd probably strangle the kid if she went back there right now. Kate watches Castle climb out of the driver's seat and move around the back of the car to get to Ellery. When the door opens on her side, she can hear Ella say something pitiful, but she doesn't hear what.

Never mind. Lizard duty is Kate's role, but she's grateful to Castle's sense of guilt over spending so much time away during her vacation. She'll take advantage of it even if he's got absolutely nothing to feel guilty for. She can hearing him cajoling Ella into putting Linc back in his travel cage and firmly closing the lid, so she starts the car for him, finds his ipod in the cup holder.

She lets out a little laugh when she realizes he's made a Hamptons Wedding playlist, and she cranes her neck back to look at him. He's kissing Ellery's forehead and smoothing her flyaway hair back from her face, tender and patient where Kate is not.

Ellery slumps in her car seat, her hands empty - which means Abe Lincoln is in his cage - and then she throws her arms around her daddy's neck and holds on tightly.

Kate turns back around in her seat and starts the playlist, feeling a little numb and a little sad, and not sure why.

But if she's being honest, she's felt like this since Montgomery and his wife died.

The music rolls out of the speakers, soft and crooning, a melancholy that matches her mood.

_They say it fades if you let it. Love was made to forget it._

But she can't. She can't forget any of it.


	12. Chapter 12

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

Castle listens with half an ear to the low-level bickering in the backseat, but it's the kind of fighting that he and Kate do when they're both too tired or just want to get a rise out of the other. It'll turn serious enough if one of the kids gets his or her feelings hurt, but for now he thinks he can let it go.

They're still not out of the city. Dashiell evidently did see a helicopter because there's a major traffic snafu ahead of them on the bridge, and cars are crawling. At least the music is good, even if he does say so himself, though at this rate, they'll be halfway through his playlist before they make it over the bridge.

Kate's idle and quiet beside him, which isn't exactly like her on a car trip with the kids, and he has the time to throw her long looks in between stops and starts. She's pressed her elbow to the door to prop up her chin, and then she leans her head back and blows out a breath right as he's looking, so that he sees everything - the frustration and the leak of sorrow, the determination to be better.

But when she speaks, it's not what he expected.

"How do you do it?" she asks quickly, her head turning against the seat so her eyes are on him. She looks tired and he's reminded that he's not sure how much sleep she's getting at night.

"Do what?" He checks the traffic and tries not to look too concerned over her.

"Know how to... gentle BK," she murmurs, her voice barely registering over the music. Strains of _now our lives are changing fast, hope that something pure can last_ compete with her quiet.

"Gentle her," he echoes, sounding the word out for meaning.

"Like a horse-whisperer," she mutters, rolling her eyes at him or herself. "What's the deal with that?"

"You do it too," he shoots back, maybe a little defensive. "With her. With him too. They seem to need it."

They're carefully avoiding calling attention to their conversation, not wanting the kids' focus on whatever might be said. He wonders if Kate hurt Ella's feelings today somehow - that stubborn refusal and digging in is their baby girl's usual m.o. when she feels stung.

"I don't do..." she trails off.

"You do. The Croatian. And it works with them. So what are you asking me for?"

"That," she gestures towards the backseat, the parking garage behind them, the past. "That thing you did to make BK all snuggly."

She says snuggly like it's a bad word. Castle shakes his head and reaches out to snag her hand over the console, loose curl of their fingers. She shifts in the seat to look at him, body open to his, and he realizes this is serious for her. She's serious.

"Kate, it's nothing new. I do the same for you," he finally says. It's not that he's analyzed his approach to his kids, but he sees there's a difference between Dash and Ellery - they're different people. "Look, I know how to do girls. There was just me and Alexis and I was the one who knew how to get to her heart, and I grew up with just Mother - you know, so... I know what to do. I have no idea what I'm doing with Wild Man; I just do what I think would work on me and hopes he's enough like me for it to stick."

"You're great with him," she defends immediately. "That's not in question. I'm-"

"_You're_ great with him," he presses. "I'm pretty good, but you're the one he needs. You know how to reach him when all else fails and part of that is being his mom, but a lot of it is - you're his horse-whisperer, too. Okay? He's got some specialness to him that I still struggle to get a handle on, but you're already built to be great for him."

She grunts something inappreciative and he tries to backtrack through his confession to find what she's missing, what she needs. Not about Dash, is it?

"You gotta court her," he says finally. "BK. She needs you to chase after her."

"What?" she laughs, a startled thing from her lips. Her hand squeezes reflexively in his and he curls his thumb around her palm, stroking.

"Dash is like me; he'll take whatever you want to give. But BK is more like you - so I court her like I do you. Chase after her so she knows I mean it, knows the effort to get to her is more than worth it. I work at her, and she responds because her little heart knows there's more value in what's worked for."

Kate's staring at him, mouth open.

"Don't look at me like that," he mutters, fixing his eyes back on the traffic. "You asked. I'm just-"

"No, no, go on," she murmurs, sitting up straight. "You... chase after her. Like you do me."

"Yeah. Just persistence. My usual annoying self."

Her hand squeezes in his, defense of him, and he squeezes back, thumb still stroking, the car barely moving in traffic. She shifts closer so that their elbows touch, their forearms and wrists pressed together, and he likes the way she studies him so minutely - but it also makes him squirm.

"Okay," she murmurs. "I'll remember that next time you're apologizing. Gotta make you work for it."

He sighs and shoots her a look, but she's got that Mona Lisa smile on her face, apparently amused with him.

"They still arguing back there?" he asks, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah. But not so bad now. They love each other."

"They do," he murmurs. It washes through him like relief. Not that their fighting makes him wonder; he just needs to hear it from her mouth from time to time. That the kids have each other no matter what, have each other's backs. Partners, siblings.

"You know, they're like us, but they're not like us," Kate says quietly. "I'm having trouble finding the line with BK. What worked on me as a kid doesn't work on her every time and yet I keep thinking - oh, _I _wanted it like this, so she must too."

"Sometimes it does," he hesitates. "I mean - I've talked with Jim a lot about this. Were they strict on you?"

Kate's silent for a moment and he wonders if he's somehow stepped into an issue, a thing for her. It's been a long time since bringing up her mother in casual conversation has done this to her, but maybe with Roy's death so fresh...

"My parents were fair," she says. "They had rules. But, I guess, no. No, they weren't strict on me."

"Even when you and Madison were hell on wheels?" he laughs.

She grins back, a flash of her lips in the corner of his vision. "Even then. I had a curfew but they treated me like - deep down - I would change back into the daughter they knew. I guess respect. They respected me even when they told me no."

"You do that with Ellery?" he asks. Sharp question, but she barely tenses beside him. The song has changed and it floats around them now, lyrics licking at the edges of their conversation. _Your eyes shined bright when you were a kid._

"I respect Ellery," she says. But there's a question in her voice, a question aimed at him.

"I don't know, Kate. I haven't been paying attention lately," he admits. Work. He's been crazy with it and every time he comes home, he knows he's been offering the kids less of himself, less of his usual. Not yet in a bad way, but-

"You can do this for a season, Rick." Her hand flips in his, traces up his forearm with a squeeze. "A summer of intensity at work doesn't make you a bad father. And a little vacation now - you were able to do that. It helps balance."

"I don't want to miss anything," he sighs.

"You're not. You're present when you're home and that's good... Okay, back to me," she insists, chuckling a little. "My issue first. Then we can rehash your decision if you really want to, but only one parenting crisis at a time."

He glances at her, the smirk of her lips at him, and he smiles too, more for himself, pleased at how he's managed to bring her out of the morose funk she was in. And well, it's a perfect example.

"This right here is what I do," he says smugly. And yeah, now _he_ feels better too. Knowing he's able to do this thing for Ellery that not even mommy can quite manage. "Just like this."

"Just like-" Kate cuts off with a laugh, a bright thing winding around the music in their car and cutting through the sound of the kids squabbling with each other. "I see. Just like this. Look how clever you are."

He gets a kick to his seat and glances in the rear view mirror to see Dashiell yanking the ipad out of Ellery's hands. "Dashiell Alexander," he warns.

"_She-"_

"Hey," Kate interrupts, half turning in the seat to look at them. "Let's play a game. Ellery, sweetheart, want to play a game with me?"

"A game?" she asks, that sly interest peaking in her voice. "What, Mommy?"

"You can pick for us. Twenty Questions or Rhyme?"

Castle glances to the rear view mirror again to watch Ellery squirm with happiness at getting to choose. Dashiell doesn't even look that bothered by it, because Castle knows - as does Kate - that he loves both those games equally. It doesn't cost anything to let Ella choose, but like he told Kate, it makes her feel courted.

"I say Twenty Questions," Ellery pronounces, her lips sliding into a gorgeous smile. Castle has to turn his eyes back on traffic, now that it's opened up a little more, but the image of that smile stays with him.

"Twenty Question it is," Kate hums beside him. "Good choice, baby." Just by the tone of her voice he can tell she's feeling pretty pleased with herself as well.

He leans forward and turns the music down. "I want to start," he calls out to them. "I'm thinking of something already."

Kate's hand comes over his forearm on the center console once more, her fingers stroking along his skin in a rhythm that makes his stomach flip. And now he's thinking about something else entirely.

"Eyes on the road," she murmurs, a lift of an eyebrow. "Okay, guys. Ella, since you picked, Dashiell gets the first question. Do you want to go second or save best for last?"

"Best for last," Ellery says, still practically beaming with every word.

Dashiell is lunging against the seat belt, judging by the sound it makes as he grips the back of Castle's seat. "Dad, oh, Dad - first question - does it go?"

Oh, right. Right. He's got the object. Uh. What was it again? "Yes," he answers blindly. Castle scrambles to think of something appropriate even while Kate turns a piercing, detective stare at him.

"Does it have four wheels?"

He opens his mouth, shuts it, smiles. "No. It doesn't."

"A motorcycle!" Ellery blurts out.

Oh, darn. "Yeah, baby girl, a motorcycle. Wow, you guys are good."

"You're just predictable," Kate laughs.

"Daddy, you always say motorcycle," Ellery giggles. "My turn?"

"Okay, sweet girl, your turn," Kate gives in, her body shifting in the seat again but her hand still on him. It feels good, having her touch him in her happiness, sharing it. He doesn't like what this past winter brought with it, but their summer has eased the ache. He hopes.

"Kate," he says softly, glancing her way even as he has to actually start paying attention to traffic again. Terrible timing. He wants to lean across the console and kiss her, but he settles with nudging her arm on top of his. He wants to know if she's okay, if it's okay again, if this has helped at all.

She does the leaning in, brushes her lips at his cheek. "I'll chase her," she whispers. "And thank you for being the perfect daddy for my little girl."

Oh, oh, that's-

Beautiful.

Wow, he thought he'd cry at the wedding, not in the car before they even left the city.


	13. Chapter 13

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

Kate curls her fingers at his neck and checks the exit as they get off the interstate; she has to push her sunglasses up on her head to look.

"I think the McDonalds will work," she murmurs.

She turns to the kids, palm flattening out against Castle's shoulder for leverage as she glances to the back seat.

"Baby girl, McDonalds okay?"

She watches as Ellery debates this, taking her own sweet time, and she gives Castle a quick look, sharing her indulgence. Dashiell is still peppering his father with questions about how farmers can make haystacks in such perfect round 'elephant biscuits' but Ella is quiet.

"Ellery, McDonalds?" she nudges.

A little sigh, like a world-weary adult. "Okay, Mommy."

She lets out a relieved breath and nods to Castle; he's already pulling into the McDonalds parking lot. "Dashiell," she calls back, interrupting his monologue. "Dash, baby, that's interesting, I know. But first. Do you think you can go at McDonalds like Ella?"

"No," he sighs. "It's no good, Mom."

"Okay," she murmurs. "But promise you can hold it."

"I can hold it."

And she knows he can, but that's not the point. She wishes he didn't get quite so anxious over everything, but at least it's manageable. "Hey," she says quietly to Castle. "I'll take her in if you'll get us some food?"

"Really?" he yelps, then clears his throat. "You don't mind?"

"Yeah, we're on vacation. Fries, hamburger, shakes - go all out, Castle."

"Me too?"

She smirks at him, stroking her fingers against his neck again. "You too, Rick. You've been really good."

"I _have._ I really have been so good."

Kate can't help the curl of her smile and she opens her mouth to say something but from the backseat she hears Ellery pushing Dash.

"You can. You can do it, Dashy."

She glances back and sees Ellery peering over at Dashiell, her fingers patting the top of his head.

"You not want to wait. You hold it and it might blow up."

Kate chokes on her laughter and slaps a hand over her mouth, sees that Castle heard that too. Only his amusement is tempered with something like _oops_.

"Did you _tell_ her that?"

"I may have... she was a stubborn thing to potty train. You remember."

"Dashiell," she calls back, twisting in her seat. "You will _not _explode."

"Can my bladder blow up?" he asks in a panicky voice. "It can't blow up. Can it blow up? Mom."

"No," she insists firmly. "Ellery, that's not true."

"Daddy say."

"Daddy was telling a Castle story," she explains. "True in a way, but mostly fiction. You know those stories."

"A Castle story?" Ellery sighs, looking suspiciously at the back of her father's head. "No blow up?"

"No."

"But Dashy needs to pee," Ella mutters. "Dashy. You can do it."

Kate lifts her eyebrow at Ellery. "That's very encouraging, sweetheart. You're being a really good sister. But remember? We don't push Dashiell to do something if he doesn't feel comfortable."

"I'm not comfortable peeing in McDonalds," Dash says determinedly. "Only at home. And the poolhouse is okay too."

"You can do it," Ellery says anyway. "You so brave, Dash."

Kate sighs, shares a look with Castle. They've been careful about how much they push Dashiell when it comes to his sensory issues, but some things can't be explained to a three year old sister who thinks if _she_ can do it, so should her brother.

"Baby-"

"Dash, it not hard. I pee in McDonalds-"

"Can we not say _pee_?" Castle huffs. "You're the children of a well-known, best-selling novelist. Come on. Use better words."

"What words?" Ella asks, turning to frown at them both. Castle has parked in the lot in front of McDonalds, and Kate has to go to the bathroom herself, and they need to hurry this along.

"Daddy means you should use restroom or bathroom or-"

"Piss," Dash says easily.

Kate's mouth drops open and Castle grunts. Ignoring it. She's ignoring it. No. No, she can't really, because Ella heard that one and then she definitely saw the way her parents reacted. Darn.

"Actually, I'd prefer it if you didn't use piss," Castle tells Dashiell solemnly, already jumping in. "That word is too strong for casual conversation, Dashiell."

"Too strong?" he murmurs, an eyebrow lifting - both eyebrows now, like one is attached by string to the other so his face looks shocked instead of merely interested. "What does that mean? A strong word."

"Okay, linguistic discussion can proceed _inside_ McDonalds. Let's go." Kate tries to hustle them, reaching back to snag Rex's collar. "Sorry, buddy, stay in here. The windows are down and we'll be quick."

She glances up to check that Castle has heard her and he's already thumbing them down and then pulling the keys from the ignition. She searches for a water bottle and the plastic container she stashed in the car somewhere for Rex; when she leans back over the seat to leave the dish in front of the dog, she overhears Ella's stage-whispered certainties in Dash's ear.

"Dash, you can potty. They flush - poof! like that - you not even touch it."

"Potty," Castle sighs, evidently having heard it as well. "Dash that one is better than piss for casual conversation."

"Oh," he says, his Pooh look on his face, as Ellery likes to call it. Thinking hard. "I can potty inside."

Kate's head whips back around to him, her hand arrested on the door where she was just beginning to climb out. "Dash?"

He's struggling to unhook his seat belt but he lifts his head and gives her a very serious look. "But not with you."

"I - uh - ok?"

"I can go in the men's room all by myself," Dashiell pronounces.

Kate throws Castle a panicky look but he's already inserting himself into the process. "Actually, my man, I'm going to the bathroom as well, so we can be urinal buddies."

"Castle," she hisses. That is probably not behavior she wants her son picking up.

"Naw, it's cool," he dismisses her, already climbing out of the Audi and moving around to the back door for Dashiell. "Right, Dash? Father and son can be buddies anywhere. But what's the rule with other people?"

"Eyes straight ahead, no talking," Dashiell repeats quickly, hopping out onto the pavement with a flourish. "Mom, you're not supposed to look at people's pen-"

Castle claps a hand over his mouth and gives Kate a thin smile, chuckling. "Dash, my man, what did I say about strong words?"

Dashiell ducks out from behind his hand and dances beside the car, looking for all the world like he was the one who complained loudly from the back seat that he had to go _now_. "Not in casual conversation, right, but Dad - you haven't said what that means."

"I'll explain in the bathroom. Come on."

Kate finally stumbles out of the car, watching the two males walk hand in hand across the parking lot to the McDonalds' entrance. She can't help staring - what in the world just _happened_ there? - but Ellery is opening her car door and knocking it into Kate's knees.

"Ow. Baby girl," she sighs. "Sorry. Come on. Get out."

"I have to _piss_," Ellery complains.

Kate lifts one eyebrow, deadly serious face, and Ella shrinks back into her seat.

"Sorry," she whispers.

"Never again," Kate informs her quietly. Dashiell won't use the word after a nice long explanation from Castle in which the merits of words and their value in society is discussed, but Ellery will sneak it out at the worst moments _just_ to get a rise out of Kate. Like at Allie's wedding.

So Kate doesn't rise.

Ella slithers out of her seat, carefully avoiding her mother's glare, and pats Rex on the rump as she goes. Kate carefully shuts the door after her and glances inside at the traveling case for the lizard. Ellery is tugging on her hand, urging her to hurry, and Kate bites her lip.

It would be five minutes and it's...

No. She can't. Not Ella's baby.

"Wait, honey. I'm rethinking this. Daddy was going to stay in the car with our pets but-"

"Oh _no_," Ellery gasps, running back to the door. "My dragon. My dragon get too hot, Mommy?"

"I don't know. They live in the desert, right? It gets very hot there. But Linc is used to living in our house, so I'm not sure." Should she start the car and leave it running or take the dragon inside McDonalds?

Sigh.

She knows what she has to do.

"Hold on, Ella."

* * *

Castle grips Dashiell by the back of the neck and steers him towards the exit from the bathroom. "Well, kiddo, you're right. But society is polite to each other for the most part - forgetting for a moment the people who flip us the bird, like you said - and so we have to be polite back when we're out with people. It's called a social contract. We all agree to have certain standards of behavior."

"Social contract?" Dash mumbles. He's got his shoulders hunched though, nearly at his ears, as he's faced with the door to the bathroom.

"Like this, my man. You don't even have to touch it." Castle bumps his hip into the door and they exit together, Dashiell breathing out a long sigh of relief as he passes unmolested and germ-free into the McDonalds seating area. The automatic flush on the urinal nearly did the kid in - he really doesn't like that sound - but Castle had a running commentary on _strong_ words, and he's managed to keep Dash distracted.

Kate and Ellery aren't out yet, so Castle sits them down at an empty table. The place is crowded and he puts Dash to the wall so he feels contained, protected from the noise by the wall and Castle's body.

And then he picks up his explanation once more. "See? Here we're in public. All these people could overhear us. So we don't use strong words. We use soft words, polite words, because some people are fine with hearing strong words and some people are not."

"Cursing is strong."

"Yes."

"Private parts. Like on bodies. So I can't say pe-"

"Yes, exactly," he interrupts, lifting a finger in warning.

Dashiell takes that calmly. "What else?"

"Really gruesome conversation. Like what you and Mom talk about in the mornings over coffee."

"Oh," Dashiell frowns and screws up his face, worming his butt back into the seat as if he can get into a smaller space. "So it's not polite to talk about blood stuff and bodies in the river and boogers?"

"Exactly."

"But I talk to _Mom_ about that."

"But she's not society. She's mom. It's just the two of you in our house. That's not out there in the world. And that's what moms and dads are for - to explain to you all the things that polite society isn't supposed to talk about."

"Oh, you mean like sex."

"Yeah, that too. You need to know about sex, you and I will have a conversation in the car or in our house. Or you can talk to mom when you guys get up in the morning. It'll be private and just between us."

"What about driving? You said to keep it a secret. Even from Mom and Ella."

Castle squints down at his son and rubs his jaw. "Ah, well. That's more about... huh. Okay, I see what you're getting at."

He's talked them into a corner. That happens a lot with Dashiell, who is curious and likes conversation about anything and everything. Just for the words themselves. Earlier in the week, he and Dash camped out in Dashiell's bed when Castle got home late from Black Pawn and they talked for three hours about why people break their own rules.

Talking to his kid is sometimes like going to therapy - all these personal revelations about how his own mind works, how he gets along with other people, why things happen the way they do. How false a front they put on polite society - though that's a revelation he had long before, even before he shadowed the detectives at the 12th.

The nasty underbelly to humanity.

"Dad, so I can still drive, right?"

Castle jerks out of his own absorption and ruffles Dash's hair. "Yeah, kiddo. Course. I promised you, right?"

"You always keep your promises," Dash says with relish, leaning his cheek against his father's arm. Castle goes still and palms the side of his son's face for a moment, caught by the sudden weariness in his kid's slump, recognizing the way Dash has been battling the noise and the sights and the smells, battling for control.

"You're such an impressive kid, Dash," he says quickly, his voice thick. "I like talking with you and how we figure stuff out together. I'm proud of you, son."

Dash lifts his chin to look at his father, gives him a shrugging shoulder and a grunt. "Thanks. You explain good."

Castle lets out a breath of laughter and then sees Kate coming out of the women's bathroom with Ellery behind her. He waits for them to approach, smiling at Ellery as she hops over the seams in the tile, her dark hair bouncing at her shoulders, and then he sees it.

"_Kate,_" he growls, standing to meet them.

"I was afraid he'd bake out there," Kate sighs, cupping her hand around Ellery's shoulder where the bearded dragon rides like a sneaky, evil demon.

"He's a lizard. They live in the desert," he whines, staring at the thing even as Kate tries to shield it. "He'd be fine."

"I don't know. He's used to our climate controlled loft."

Would it really be so bad if the lizard bit the dust?

Ellery has turned her head to coo at her dragon, baby-talking to him and stroking a finger down his back, her whole face alight and in love. Great, his daughter's first crush is on a lizard.

Yeah, okay, it wouldn't be a great start to their vacation if they accidentally killed his baby girl's pet.

"Okay. Fine. Whatever. Get her back in the car. Dash and I will order us some milk shakes and fries."

"Dad," Dashiell calls out tightly.

He glances down and sees his son pressed back into the seat, body plastered to the shielding wall, rigid and mouth pressed into a tight line.

"Okay, new plan. We're going through the drive through," he says quietly.

And then he reaches over and scoops up his son, who has done enough today to earn a thousand concessions, and he carries him out of the noisy hellhole of the McDonalds restaurant.

When Dash winds his arms around his father's neck and sighs, his body releasing, it makes Castle feel like a hero.


	14. Chapter 14

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

By the time Castle remote unlocks the gate to their private drive, both kids are in their separate corners and absorbed in their mobile devices, and Kate is waking from a doze that makes her feel surreal. She yawns and stretches, scrapes both hands through her hair as Castle navigates their Audi towards their Hamptons home. The trees at the entrance give way to the sprawling vista of green rolling hill, melding flawlessly with the estate.

Because it is an estate; there's no other word for it. The Hamptons house has a Tudor style to it that makes it appear to be both a family cottage and also an imposing manor, the perfect marriage of function and beauty, fusing grand gestures and sweeping views with cozy window seats and intimate rooms.

Those first few years after Dashiell was born, Castle humored her and allowed them to stay in only the south wing, where the servants' kitchen was close to the stairs and the rooms were all along the same hall. It made the place feel smaller, kept her from having to see how vast it actually was, how much she was taking on. Kate was good at denial, and Castle wasn't rocking the boat.

But early in her pregnancy with Ella, the north kitchen flooded and everything had to be pulled out and remodeled all the way to the front entrance. That's when Kate suggested hiring Andy to maintain the place year round, if only to open up the faucets when the temperatures dipped below freezing, and in return, that's when Castle had her making the decisions and backing her up even when she fired his decorator.

She loves the sight of the place when they first come upon it, loves the sense of old world and new, English sophistication meeting barefoot beach plantation, the way it fills the horizon but also looks like a home.

"We're here," Castle says quietly. She can hear the pleasure and pride in his voice.

They did this together too.

The kids don't even budge, but for the moment, Kate's happy to scan the property and take it all in before things get crazy. Already she can see activity towards where she knows the pool's arbor resides, the orchestrated dance of wedding preparation and the busy-ness of pulling it all off on time. She imagines she can see the flame of Allie's hair standing in the middle of the swarm, guiding the direction of the workers.

"At least the Hamptons house finally gets its wedding," Castle sighs.

She laughs and cuts him a look; he's nearly morose with it - either his oldest girl getting married or not having their own here - and she reaches across the console to run her fingers along his forearm.

"Poor, baby. You never get what you want."

He snorts and gives her an amused look, takes the keys out of the ignition. "Right." Castle turns to the kids in the back. "Okay, guys. We're here. Put everything up and go find your sister."

"I think she's down close to the pool," Kate says, a little sharpness to her voice. She gets Ella's attention that way and the girl thumbs off the ipad, hands it over the seat to her mother.

"Dashy, Dashy, come on. Rex, Rex, Rex-" She's squirming out of her seat as she chants the dog's name, and Rex lumbers up from the floorboards and starts barking, filling the car with noise.

Dashiell claps both hands over his ears and his ipod falls out of his lap, but Castle manages to catch it before it can hit the floor. The car is riotous with noise and the kids' movement, and a door pops open and all of that circus spills out with them.

Kate and Castle are left sitting in the front seat with all the rest of it, a little breathless in the sudden quiet.

"Ella won't go in the pool, will she?"

"Dash won't let her," Kate replies, but her head instinctively turns to check the long expanse of green for the kids. They're running full tilt for the arbor surrounding the pool, and the fence gate is open to give the workers easy access.

"You're right," he says.

Kate opens her door though, half a thought to go down after them, but as she slides her ipad into the bag and gathers Ellery's stuff from the back, she notices the empty travel cage.

"Oh, she's got Abe Lincoln with her," Kate tells him. "She'll be fine."

"She really likes that pool."

"But she won't do that to the lizard. She knows better."

"I hope," Castle says darkly, shaking his head. "Can you grab their stuff and I'll start unloading the trunk?"

"Yeah. Front door's unlocked, right?"

"Should be," he shrugs. "Alexis and Rafe are both here, Andy has been working up here too."

"Okay," she murmurs, grabbing pillows, blankets, lovies, trash - the accumulation of her kids' couple hours in the car. She stuffs as much into their bags as she can and slings them over her shoulder, along with her own satchel, while Castle starts piling stuff onto the smooth pavement of the driveway.

Kate is met at the front walk by a woman in a pale pink sundress, friendly and enthusiastic, but entirely a stranger. She clasps Kate's elbows like they know each other. "You're the mother of the bride," she squeals and attempts a hug despite Kate's load.

"Ah, not - no," Kate says as she steps away. "Sorry. That's Meredith - I'm not sure when she's getting in, but we've put her in the pool house-"

"Oh, no, no," the woman gasps, as if that just won't do. "You're Kate, right? Allie said you're her mother of the bride."

Kate goes still, her lungs catching on her ribs and making the next inhalation painful. "I... I'm Kate," she finally says.

"Good, good, oh, I'm Pam; I'm the wedding planner. Have you ever seen a wedding put together so quickly before?"

"Actually, yes," Castle says from right behind her, saving her from answering. "Ours. I'm Rick Castle. You'll excuse me if I don't shake; my hands are full. You coming, Kate?" He bulldozes right past Pam, moving into the wide foyer and cool white tile of the front hall. He mounts the stairs and Kate follows right behind him, leaving Pam to stand alone in the entry.

"You didn't tell me she was doing that," Kate says to his back as they climb to the second floor.

Castle grunts, but his words are distinct with irritation. "I didn't know she was doing that, Kate."

She grits her teeth and turns right down the hallway towards the kids' rooms, depositing stuff even as Castle goes the opposite direction. They've kept the south wing to themselves, the intimate kitchen and the rooms closer together, but all their guests will fill the larger north wing. Allie and Rafe are over here with them as well, but no one else, and the sense of privacy and security eases the tension that's crept into Kate's shoulders. When the kids' stuff is parceled out, she stands for just a moment before the dormer window in Dashiell's room, the bookcase littered with toys and books he must not have picked up before they left a few weeks ago.

And then she takes a breath and heads for the master suite and her husband.

"Sorry," she says quietly, dumping her own bag on the chair just inside the door. "What are we going to do about Mere?"

"She'll..." Castle winces.

"She won't be fine with it," Kate jumps in. "Don't even pretend she's going to be fine with it. Allie... Alexis should've known better."

"She's making a statement," Castle sighs.

"She can't do that. It'll get ugly."

"She loves you," he shrugs.

Kate sinks down on the bed. "I can't say I'm not - honored. And... okay, part of me is pleased. I feel like I-" She cuts herself off and rubs her forehead with her thumb, fighting a headache.

"You can say it," he murmurs, his hand brushing across her shoulder as he moves to drop their stuff in the bathroom.

Kate doesn't say it though; she stares into the walled fireplace, her eyes tracing the massive anchor that provides a poignant visual when the gas logs are turned on. She loves this room; she didn't touch a thing in it, except to pick out new bedding.

"You deserve it, that honor," Castle finishes for her, coming back into the room. "And Alexis wants you to have it. I don't know what we do about Meredith, but Alexis hasn't seen her in four years, Kate. When they talk, it's always superficial."

"I feel like that's my fault."

"When you're given a look at how much better it ought to be..."

"What does that mean?" she gets out, her chest tightening.

"Alexis sees how it is; she knows what she was missing. Now that she has you, I don't think she's interested in how Meredith feels."

"Meredith isn't a bad person," Kate defends. It feels hollow because on a fundamental level, Kate can't understand the woman's complete self-absorption. She gets it - she's not sure Meredith is capable of being anything other than the exciting, superficial-

"Twinkie," Castle supplies, reading her mind. "I mean, yeah, _fun_. But-"

"Please don't," Kate says sharply. His eyes trip down to hers and she stands from the bed, giving Castle a lift of her eyebrow. "Do not elaborate on fun."

"We have more fun," he rumbles, a hand coming up to lay at her waist.

"Castle."

"We do!"

She reaches out and he ducks from her fingers, but he's laughing at her too, not even remorseful, and instead of being on the defensive after that, he goes offensive, using one of her own martial arts moves on her. Kate stumbles back as he takes her down, feels her spine hit the mattress and Castle landing on top of her, grinning in triumph and childish delight.

"You tackled me," she growls.

"You were going to twist my ear," he accuses.

"Only a little," she mutters, arching her back to try to push him off. But it only makes him press down harder into her, and suddenly this isn't a conversation about what to do with Meredith any more. It's barely a conversation.

"We have more fun," he whispers at her ear.

"I..." Her mind blanks out when his fingers stroke the skin above her hip.

"Speechless, Detective?" he murmurs, skating his lips along her jaw.

"Not a detective today," she says finally, first thing that comes to mind. She gets her hands at his shoulders to shove him off of her, but at the last second, she finds herself rolling them, straddling his hips with her palms planted on his chest, victorious above him.

"Oh, look at this," he grins. "Right where I want you."

"Yes, convenient, isn't it?" she smirks back, shifting her hips to make him gasp.

He does - he always does, half melodrama and half real surprise - and she leans down over him, her hair falling from her shoulders to curtain them. His grin melts into a deeper expression of want, and she finds herself mirroring his anticipation.

"You'll talk to Meredith," she murmurs.

"That's not sexy," he warns her, voice that artless rumble. She loves it when she can make his words run together, when he's so focused on how they feel together that he loses the ability to be charming. It's just Rick. Just real.

Kate leans in and drops a light kiss to his forehead, down the plane of his nose, to the corner of his eye, letting her hair trail along his skin. He lets out a breath that stutters, and Kate meets his mouth for a kiss that falls out of her control.

Slow, sweet, a tinge of darkness that she can't help any more. His hands tighten on her hips and press them together, a response to that shimmer of her grief, and his touch eases her out, sets her back on a steady pace once more.

She's fine. This is fine. She'll talk to Meredith herself, and she'll do whatever it takes to make Allie happy tomorrow.


	15. Chapter 15

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

After putting stuff away, Castle finds his kids down by the ocean, all three of them, which relieves him on a couple fronts: Dash isn't stupid enough to let Ellery sweettalk him into doing something dangerous, and Alexis isn't so overwhelmed that she can't take time for her little brother and sister.

"Alexis," he calls out. All three turn their heads to him, his oldest to his youngest, hair flying around their faces in the wind, eyes happy and eager as they meet his. It's never struck him quite like this, how his kids range so far afield but in essence, they are the truest of siblings. Joy and love and excitement for the possibilities, love for people and compassion for the underdog, and despite different mothers - the same mother as well. Kate's stamp is on all of them, her mark, and he feels like the world is better for it.

"Hey guys," he calls out.

"Hey, Dad," Alexis says, up on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Did you see Rafe?"

"No, actually. Where is he?"

"No, I was asking you," she laughs. "He was supposed to be overseeing the caterers. I don't know where he went."

"I'm sure he's around. A lot of them were down by the pool. Looks pretty fancy."

"Fancy or just... elegant?" Alexis says, giving him a hopeful look.

"Elegant. Definitely. I can't believe you've done this in just the last week."

"You don't mind me taking over the house-?"

"Of course not," he chides softly. He can't resist wrapping his hand around her pony tail, tugging gently. "I think Kate might need to talk to you about some stuff."

"The mother of the bride," she says fiercely. Her chin comes up and her eyes get hard and that's Kate too.

"Hey," he says in surrender. "I said Kate would need to talk. Not me. I say you do want you think is right. It's your wedding."

"I haven't talked to Meredith in four years, Dad," she says heatedly. "And before that - a meaningful conversation? I think the last one was when I was twelve and she explained about my period."

"Ouch," he winces, glancing at her. "I thought I covered-"

"Exactly," she says. So cool now, so closed off when she talks about Meredith. "You beat her to it because she wasn't around for me. She never was. She came to New York when it fit her; she didn't even show up for my high school or college graduation."

"Pumpkin-"

"Don't defend her. I know you think it's deplorable. Well, I do too. I'm tired of pretending that it's _okay_ - that it's just her personality, her flighty nature. I'm done. Dad. I'm done. It's not what I want in my life, tainting my marriage, my kids?"

He sighs and releases her pony tail; she's not the little kid who couldn't understand why her mother was moving to LA. She knows now. She's not first in her mother's life.

"You don't have to do anything you're not willing to do. It wouldn't be worth it anyway. But I do think you should listen to Kate."

"If she tries to give it back - she can't. It's not something she can give back. She's my mother. I want _her_. Not Meredith."

He gives a soft chuckle as she stares out over the breaking waves; the light is rich and filled with the rainbow as it meets the water. She's so stubborn about it, but he traces his hand over her shoulder blade and tries to bring her back to that serene place.

"Kate would never give you back, Allie." He uses the nickname Kate gave her as a way to make her see. "And honey, you and I did pretty good, just the two of us, for a long time. I think that if your mother - if Meredith wants a place here at your wedding, pumpkin, then isn't two better than one? Let Kate be what you need, and let Meredith be... extra. Frosting."

Twinkie.

Alexis is silent next to him but it seems to be a thinking silence. She'll listen, at least, when Kate comes to set down her decidedly strict rules about 'how things are done.' And he thinks that by warning her now, maybe he'll keep Alexis from taking it the wrong way.

He watches the kids running through the sand and dancing away from the waves as they lap quickly up the shore. Dash shrieks and darts away like he's scared, but he's playing it up for Ella. The girl chases him and falls, hops right back up to keep on going, brushing sand off her elbows.

"Does Kate want to-"

"Of course she does. She's - you should've seen her face, Alexis," he hastens to reassure her.

"Good." Alexis nods and puts her hands in her pockets, seems to gather herself again. "At least there's that. Even if I can't - if I have to change it. But I don't want to change it, Dad."

"Just let Kate talk to you," he advises her.

"Okay," she agrees. She's quiet again.

"Ella," he calls out. "Ellery, no. Don't throw sand on Dashiell."

Ellery kicks sand off her feet and comes running to him, throwing herself into his body. He manages to bend and catch her, swing her in the air as she giggles, eyes screwed up tight.

He shifts Ellery to his other arm and wraps Alexis in a hug, kissing her forehead. "Kate and I both are so excited for you guys, pumpkin. Really. We're proud. I'm - Rafe is a good man."

"He is," she says serenely. She's been like this since the planning started. It's like nothing touches her; nothing about it ruffles her feathers, nothing has even made ripples on the pond. This talk about her mother - about Meredith - is truly the first time he's seen her get worked up, and even that seems to have faded quickly.

It can't last. She's going to fall apart tomorrow.

"Daaaaddy," Ellery calls out, cupping his face in her little hands. "Daddy, we can swim?"

"Not tonight, baby girl. The pool is off limits until after the wedding."

"Sorry, Ella-bean," Alexis smiles, leaning in to kiss her cheek, dragging her fingers through Ellery's hair. It looks to be hopelessly tangled by the wind, and Alexis gives up quickly, laughing. "But guess what? Mom and Dad have that huge jacuzzi tub and I bet you and Dash can swim in there."

"Oh, yes, Daddy?" Ella asks, voice and eyebrows both going up, giving him a hopeful look. She's adorable suddenly - it strikes his heart how cutely coy she's being - and he leans in and gobbles up her cheeks with kisses because he can barely stand it. He kisses her neck, her cheeks, her sweaty palms and her wind-tangled hair, and she giggles so hard that it's just little wheezing pants for air.

She laughs and squirms in his arms, and he dumps her off to Alexis with a last smacking kiss, and then he turns and hunts down Dashiell, grabbing him around the waist and swinging him up.

Dash screams like a girl and collapses into a fit of laughter, his body spasming as Castle tickles him ruthlessly. Kid never saw it coming and now he's gasping and begging his father to stop, giggling in between each word so that his eyes squint closed. It's the best sound in the world, a little on edge and desperate, and so completely filled with joy that it lights up the whole beach.

Castle finally ceases, one arm hooked behind Dashiell's knees, the other at his neck and cradling him like a baby, and he rubs his face in his son's, growling at him.

"Oh, oh, oh," Dashiell gasps. "Daddy."

"I got you, buddy."

"Oh, I love the beach," he sighs, eyes opening bright and swimming green as he stares up at the blue sky. "This is the best."

"You and Ella want to take a bath in the jacuzzi tub tonight?"

"Oh the _big_ tub!"

"I'll take that as a yes." Castle turns and glances back down the beach to find Allie and Ellery already heading back up the boardwalk for the house. "Okay, wild man. You ready to go up and see about dinner?"

"Is Rafe gonna make it or is Momma?"

"That's a good question," he laughs. "And I don't know. What about me?"

"You do good, Dad, but Mom says you're busy and not to bother you."

Castle winces but that's entirely too true lately. "I can still make you guys dinner. Plus it's vacation time. I only have to check some emails - but that's after you guys are asleep."

"Could you make ravioli?" Dashiell asks, hooking an arm around his father's neck and swinging upright. He bounces a little in Castle's grip, seems to be leaning past his father's shoulder to look at the waves. "I think ravioli will be good tonight."

"Actually, yeah. I'll make ravioli. Mom's done enough cooking lately, don't you think?"

"Mom is a good cook," Dash gives, his eyes coming back to his father. "Hey, let me down. I can walk."

Castle laughs and grabs Dash by the hips, tosses him a little in the air before catching him and setting him on his feet in the sand. Dash giggles and sways like he's dizzy before dropping straight down onto his bottom.

"Oops, you okay there, buddy?"

He laughs and tilts his head back, his eyes tracking to the sky again. The summer sun is still brilliant despite the late hour, and the golden light makes Dash look as ethereal and beautiful as his mother. His lashes fall as his eyes close and then they startle open wide again, a rush of breath.

"Dad."

Castle crouches down with him, staring at the wonder opening up over his son's face.

"Dad, it... it..."

"Yeah?" he says quietly. He thinks his son is experiencing some kind of epiphany, and he doesn't want to interrupt.

"Dad." Dashiell closes his eyes and drops back into the sand. "Dad, it smells like dog poop."

Castle cracks open on a laugh and sits down hard with it, his chest aching with his laughter.

And then he realizes it _does_ smell like dog poop down here.

Gross.

* * *

Kate hears from Castle via text message that they're scooping the beach - whatever that means - and she finds Ellery and Allie in the kitchen. She hesitates on the threshold but decides there's no time like the present. She inserts herself into their cozy time, snagging a baby carrot from the bag and crunching.

"Hey, Mom," Allie says excitedly, throwing an arm around Kate even as she keeps a hand on Ella who's sitting on the counter. "Thanks for coming early. I'm getting a little nervous. Excited."

"Oh, I bet," she grins. "Do you remember ours? I thought I was going to throw up."

"No way. You looked so determined. I mean - like a warrior or something. Just like 'Conquest.'"

Kate tilts her head, confused for a moment, but Ellery giggles and then _snorts_ like her brother and she hums the opening notes of a song they all know.

That Kate then figures out is _the_ song. 'Conquest.' She laughs and cups Ella's cheeks, kisses her. "Okay, okay. Yes. I conquered Daddy, didn't I?" Ellery giggles harder and her eyes flash open to Kate, catching her off guard with their ease.

Looks like everyone needed a vacation.

"I loved your wedding," Allie goes on. "I loved that it was a surprise for everyone and we got to drag them all down to Papa's cabin and just - have fun. We're doing the card thing at ours too. Where people can write us notes that we fill up a jar with?"

"Oh, I love ours," Kate grins over at her, laying her hand on Ellery's knee to keep the girl from deciding to jump down. "In fact, we brought it with us to the therapist's office and kinda - I don't know - worked through most of them. There was some really good advice for stuff that your dad and I thought we didn't need, but actually..."

"You did?" Allie laughs. "Yeah, Dad said one was never go to bed angry."

Kate crooks an eyebrow and leans a hip against the kitchen counter. "Well, not sure about that one. Maybe your dad shouldn't. He needs to get everything out. I need a night to cool off and reassess in the morning. Nothing is ever as bad as it seems in the heat of things."

"Oh," Allie blinks. "That's - oh, that's good. I hadn't thought of it like that. I'm more like you, I think. But, no, sometimes I just want to lay it all out there. Like word vomit all over him, so he knows everything."

Kate winces and grips Ella's knee harder as the girl tries to slither away. "Yeah, that sounds like your dad. He thinks everything can be solved if he talks it to death. No matter if he's saying any of the right words or not - he just keeps on filling the space."

Allie chuckles and reaches past her to snag Ella off the counter, set her on her feet with a tug of her pony tail. It looks tangled, and Kate bet that Allie had to scrape it back off her face for her; Ellery complains about it when it gets in her way.

"Ellery, stick close. You and Dash are having dinner soon."

"Mommy, no," Ella whines. "And my Abe Lincoln."

"Wait. Where _is_ Abe Lincoln?"

"Oh, I took him," Allie says shyly, as if she's not allowed. Kate turns back to her and shakes her head, then to Ella.

"Ellery, he's your responsibility. Do you know what happened to Abe Lincoln when you gave him to Allie?"

"I... I not know," she whispers, lifting careful eyes to her mother.

Kate feels the hard edge of frustration butting up against her chest and she tries not to give in to it. Ellery has been careless and even spiteful with her pet recently; Kate's hoping she didn't make a mistake in allowing the girl the responsibility of a pet at so young an age.

But Ella was so desperate for it. And it's possible that Kate hasn't helped the attitude either - laughing when Ellery teased her father with it probably taught her some bad behavior.

Kate turns to Allie and mouths _sorry_ at her. "Allie, I think Ella would like to know where her lizard is so that she can take good care of it like she's supposed to."

Allie gives Kate a wincing smile and turns to Ellery. "Hey, Ella. I put Abe Lincoln in the terrarium downstairs. The one Daddy bought specially for you. Do you know where it is?"

"Daddy did buy Abe his own home for the beach?"

Kate closes her eyes, opens them slowly to look at Allie. "He did?" More presents. More _things_ instead of-

Kate cuts off that train of thought and straightens up, holding her hand out to Ellery. "Hey, Allie, why don't you show us both where Linc's beach house is?"

"Sure, guys," Allie chuckles, already heading for the wide open doorway and past the stairs towards the front sitting room in the other wing of the house.

Ellery slides her fingers around Kate's and looks up at her mother. "I not know where him is."

"But you'll try to do better, sweet girl. I know you will."

"I do better," Ella says solemnly. Kate realizes their interactions have formed this pattern lately, of Ellery being inconsiderate or rude or stubborn and Kate having to be the stern bad cop who corrects.

She's tired of correcting. Tired of seeing the petulant, pitiful hurt in her daughter's face for every time she's corrected.

Kate can't quite believe she was ever this stubborn as a tiny little thing.

"You guys coming?" Allie calls back.

And she has to talk to Allie about the whole mother of the bride thing too.

Kate glances down at her strong-willed daughter and decides to give it up for this weekend. Just this weekend. No more corrections, no more rebukes, no more frowns.

Smiles only.

Kate squats down next to Ella and brushes her fingers through the loose strand of her hair that always falls out of the pony tail. She skims her daughter's cheek and kisses her forehead softly.

"_U redu je_, Ella. Let's find your dragon."

"_Mama_?" Ellery whispers, nudging her face into Kate's cheek and wrapping an arm around her neck. "What does that mean?"

Kate feels shame stain her throat as she lifts Ellery up into her arms. "It means, _everything is okay_. I don't say that enough, baby. I'm sorry. _U redu je. U redu je._ It's okay."

"You will help me find him?"

"_Da, cvrčak._ Of course."

"_Volim te._"

"I love you too."


	16. Chapter 16

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

"I'm not bringing it up," Kate tells him.

Castle finishes laying out the circles of pasta for their foldover ravioli, gives his wife a quick look. "But I thought-"

"I'll talk to Meredith instead. I've decided to go on vacation from that too this weekend."

He uses a spoon to mix the stuffing in the bowl, meat and ricotta mostly, with some pureed squash and pumpkin - Rafe's idea. Kate takes the spoon from him wordlessly and begins dropping even amounts onto the pasta dough. Castle is free to wash his hands and study her a little closer.

"Vacation from what?"

"From telling the kids what to do." She puts her thumb in her mouth and licks, then goes back to dropping mixture onto the dough.

He turns on the water at the sink, grabs the soap. "I just heard you tell Dash to get a bath."

"No, I mean. Rebuking them. Scolding. I feel like I'm always saying _no_."

"Well, uh, Kate... that's pretty much how it goes. When I'm the one home with them all day, that's all I'm saying too."

"I'm just tired of it. Dash - he's older, so there's less of it now, but Ella doesn't respond well to _no_."

Castle laughs, pretty hard actually; he finds this conversation seriously amusing, and she elbows him out of her way, starts folding the pasta dough over into little half-moons. Pointedly ignoring him, and that's funny too.

"Sorry," he admits, wiping his clean hands on a dish towel. "Yeah, that's... very true. You don't either though - respond well to _no_."

She throws him an acknowledging look. "My vacation. I want to stop telling them no. Just for a few days. Obviously not the rest of their lives, that's impossible. But."

"I got it. I'll take up your slack," he grouses, settling his hip against the counter.

"In that vein," she murmurs. "Maybe go check on them? Make sure they really are taking a bath?"

"I can hear the jacuzzi from here," he laughs. Not true really; his house is better made than that, but he enjoys withholding his concession from her until she gets mean. Angry Beckett is fun.

"Castle." The harder edge is back just that fast, and he grins and dives in to steal a kiss with a promise.

"Going," he murmurs at her mouth. Her fingers are sticky with ravioli filling when she touches his neck, like she's forgotten, and he smiles into the brush of her lips for more.

Castle leaves her to finish folding over the raviolis, scraping filling off his neck as he mounts the stairs. When he turns down the hall towards the master bathroom, he actually can hear the jets going in the tub. Their bedroom floor is littered with the kids' clothes and a couple toys, a pile of towels that Dash must have pulled off the shelf, and he sees Rafe standing just inside the doorway.

"Hey, man. Been looking everywhere for you," Castle laughs, patting his back.

Rafe turns and accepts a half-hug, half-handshake, and Allie is stepping out of the bathroom with her capris soaked up to her thighs.

"Did you fall in?" Castle laughs.

"Just about," she grumbles, but a good-natured smile lights her face. "Hey, Mom never talked to me about Meredith."

"She says she's talking to Meredith instead."

Alexis startles and shoots Rafe a swift look. "Okay. I mean, is it okay?"

"Don't worry about it. They've done this before."

"That sounds ominous," Rafe says. "Is that really a good idea, Allie? Unleashing your mom on Meredith?"

"She's not unleashed," Castle laughs, but then he sobers quickly. "Well. In a manner of speaking. But no, really. She had a talk with Meredith after Dashiell was born; it was about you, Alexis. So they have some kind of history working this out."

"They talked about me?" Alexis goes still, the towel dropping out of her hands.

Oh. Is this bad? "Yes. Hey, how are the kids doing? Dinner's almost ready."

"Kids are fine. What did they talk about?" Alexis asks, stepping closer.

"I honestly don't know, Alexis." He holds up both hands and steps past her for the bathroom, avoiding that conversation. Dashiell is up to his neck in bubbles even as the jets froth the water and create more. Uh-oh.

"Hey, Dad. Look!"

"Oh, guys. Um. You added bubble bath?" He winces and sees towels strewn over the bathroom floor, soaking up huge puddles. "Allie cleaned up the mess, huh?"

"I clean up!" Ellery proclaims, appearing from behind a mountain of bubbles in the bathtub. "See how clean, Daddy?" She has a beard and snowy cap of bubbles for hair, and he can't help leaning over and swiping it off her nose with a laugh.

"Guys, maybe we should turn off the jets."

"No, no, no!" Ellery yells, standing up in the bath.

Well, Kate's certainly right. This is a kid who hears a lot of _no._

"Ella Kate, sit down."

She plops back down and the bubbles swamp her immediately, the jets churning it all up. Dashiell is regarding both of them warily, waiting to see which side he should throw his support to, and Castle leans over and pushes the button off.

The jets stop suddenly, quiet descending.

"Daddy," Ellery begs. "Daddy, please. Pretty please with all the cherries."

"Compromise. Let's drain some of the water out of the tub and then we can turn it back on. Okay?"

"Yay!" Dash yells, reaching out and grabbing his sister's arm. "See, Ella, we still get bubbles. Help me search for the drain. It's down here somewhere."

Ellery is giving her father mulish looks, unappreciative, but she allows Dashiell to distract her, plunging her body into the bubble mountains and searching the tub with her fingers for the drain stopper.

Castle turns back around and finds Alexis waiting on him in the bedroom, the wet towels in a pile now at Rafe's feet.

"Dad. What did Mom say to Meredith?"

"You'll have to ask her, pumpkin. I really have no idea."

"That was... was that the same time that Mom stopped coming to New York?"

Castle pauses, searches Alexis's face. "No. Think about it. Your mother didn't come to your high school graduation. She didn't show up for college days, or moving into the dorm. And _then_ Dash was born. And then Kate talked to her."

"When? Tell me when. Exactly," she says, her body rigid.

"Alexis, what's this about?"

"I just need to know. Did they - did Kate make some kind of a deal with her or something? Is that why she just quit - quit even pretending like-"

"I didn't make a deal like that," Kate says quietly from the doorway. Castle can see now where Rafe has been trying to catch Alexis's attention this whole time, let her know Kate was standing right there. "I wanted to ask her something."

"You think you get to just shut her down because you-"

"Allie," Kate says quietly. "Let's go downstairs and talk-"

"I don't want to talk. I want you to tell me what you said to her to scare her off."

"Alexis," Castle says quickly, even as Rafe takes her by the elbow. "I've already told you. Meredith was already gone. Don't... don't ask me to spell it out."

She turns her face to him now, cheeks stained bright red with anger and probably embarrassment. She never makes waves like this; she never calls attention to her own issues. But Castle gets it - this has been brewing for years in her. And at least Kate knows that too; he doesn't have to worry she'll get upset.

"Say it," Alexis grits out. "Spell it out. Meredith was already gone and what? I want to hear it."

"Castle," Kate warns him.

"Kate," she gives a flashing look and then turns back to him. "Dad. Tell me."

"That was rude," Rafe says quietly. Alexis spares him a glance, but they can all see how desperate she is. It makes his chest hurt.

She shakes her head. "Sorry, but I want to know what apparently everyone else saw so clearly. I want to know what you all were hiding from me. I called her. I called her every day of that first semester in the dorms. And she barely talked to me."

"Okay. Okay, pumpkin. That's enough." Castle steps forward, but Kate calls his name.

"Rick. Don't."

He ignores Kate and takes Alexis by the arm, guiding her to the side of the bed. "Alexis. Meredith..."

"Rick." Kate inserts herself between them, her eyes dark, but she can't be the one to do everything here. It was him and Alexis in the beginning, and apparently she needs this closure from him before she can get married tomorrow.

"I got this, Kate," he tells her. "Can you please make sure the kids drain some water out of the tub before they turn the jets on?"

Kate's fingers circle briefly over his wrist, but she seems to understand he's asking for the white noise of the jacuzzi to cover their conversation, because she leaves him with Alexis. Rafe has already started to follow her and it is just Alexis and himself, as it was in the beginning.

"Sit down, pumpkin." She does automatically, like a reflex, and he settles beside her on the bed, drawing his arm around her shoulders.

"She never wanted to come," Alexis says quietly. "Did she?"

"I... no. She never wanted to come."

"If I was the center of attention," Alexis fills in. "Then she couldn't possibly be. Birthday parties she always... it's always about her. Why does it always have to be about her? Why couldn't it ever be about me?"

Castle bows his head and presses his forehead to hers, hugging her hard. His throat feels like it's closing up. "I think Kate asked her the same question. With the caveat that Meredith... if she couldn't find a way to make it about you, then she-"

"Wasn't welcome?"

"That may be too harsh. Meredith called me later to say Kate was a lovely person, so I'm sure it wasn't in those words. Or at least, your mother never took it like that."

Alexis slumps down against him. "So she gave me up to let Kate..."

"No, honey," he whispers. "She gave you up to me. She got a better offer in LA and she gave you up to me."

"A better offer," her voice twists.

"No, not you, never you. Poor sentence construction. A better job offer. You know this, Alexis. You already know this. You were three years old. Why is this bothering you now?"

"The marriage counselor. Rafe and I had to talk about kids and how we'd parent them, you know? What roles we assume. So I've been thinking about it a lot. But I didn't... how could she do that to me? I'd never do that to my kids. Or even to _your_ kids. Why-"

"I think Kate felt the same thing," he muses quietly. He never actually has gotten the full account from her, but he sees the same frustration in Allie's eyes now that burned in Kate's. "Dashiell had just been born and we both felt pretty terrible at being good parents to him, and she told me one night_ If I'd had a baby like Alexis_. I think because I kept comparing Dash as a baby to you as a baby and... well. Not a good idea."

"Kinda mean, Dad," she laughs. A small laugh, but there nonetheless.

"Yeah, stupid of me," he admits. "You were the only experience I had to offer, and I was trying to help, but Kate saw it a little differently. Still it got her thinking about you and Meredith, I suppose. In the same way you are now."

He sees her on the edge of his vision, Kate, and he glances up to look; she's been haunting the conversation, looks like, because her face is brimming with all kinds of things she want to say. She's so fiercely protective of Alexis, has been since that night they had their worst fight and then had to drive to Spanish Harlem and rescue his daughter.

"Kate," he offers.

She slides onto the bed next to Allie and wraps her up in a tight embrace. "I wasn't trying to interfere. Meredith canceled on you that week three times, Allie, and then Gram said she saw her at the theatre, and I kinda lost it. It infuriates me, Allie. So when she called a couple days later and I answered, I asked her to meet with me first."

"Did she give me up?"

"That's not the right question."

"That's a yes."

"It's not a yes," Kate says, dropping her arms and getting Alexis's attention. Castle keeps his grip on his daughter's shoulder, but he thinks this might have been a conversation they were supposed to have years ago.

"What is it then? If you won't tell me, it's too bad to say."

"The things we talked about aren't for you to hear. Or your dad. No one else but us. It was about being a mother to you. She loves you like only Meredith can. She didn't give you up to me, Allie, because I took you. I stole you because I thought I knew better. I was being selfish. So whatever is broken with her now is partly my responsibility."

Alexis pulls out of his grip and falls into Kate, arms wrapped around her, probably some tears as well, so Castle gets up. He curls a hand over Kate's shoulder as he heads for the bathroom and she touches her cheek to his hand, but she doesn't stop him.

He knows it's not Kate's responsibility, not her fault either, and he's pretty sure that Alexis's sees that as well, sees how Meredith abdicated the throne in her daughter's heart long before Kate showed up. His wife only gave her someone to look up to, someone to be friend and mentor; Kate didn't kick anyone out.

Meredith got a better offer. He didn't mean it to come out that way, but it's the truth. Some people are good parents, and some people their children pretend to believe are good parents because it's makes life easier.

Castle kneels down on the bathroom floor in front of the tub, wet towels soaking his jeans, and he feels relieved that at least he's managed this. Dashiell and Ella happy in their bubble bath, giggly and loving and stubborn and thriving, and Alexis on the bed with Kate, band-aids over her heart and the self-awareness and ability and support to heal.

It'll work out, he knows. He and Kate both have had their own wounds. She just needs time.

And probably, he admits with a sigh, kids of her own.


	17. Chapter 17

** A Dash of Summer**

* * *

Castle watches Ellery sit close to her older sister at the long bench that serves as seating at their kitchen table. The sky has been struck golden and pink by the sun setting on the other side of the house, stretching long fingers through his view.

Allie has Rafe on her other side, doing his best to keep the conversation going; Rafe's never been one for charming small talk. He gets right to it, like Kate does, but he's trying to press on for Alexis's sake. Some of the heat and passion has gone out of her, and though Kate gives her studying looks as they start dinner, she does seem to have regained her poise.

But Ellery has noticed. She keeps turning her face up to Alexis with attentiveness, and even though she's quiet - well, she's always quiet - her reserve does something good for Alexis. Something that brings his oldest a measure of control. He's not sure what tomorrow will look like when Meredith arrives - along with the rest of their family and friends - but for now, she's fine.

If Dash noticed his older sister's troubled heart, if he had the skill for subtleties, he would have asked outright, _Why are you sad?_ But he doesn't. Ella, being Ella, would never ask, but she always knows.

Kate passes him the bowl of salad and he's broken from his train of thought, scooping some out onto Ellery's plate and then his own, bypassing Dashiell on his right. He catches Ellery curling practically onto Alexis's lap, her cheek to Allie's arm, and his oldest gives his youngest a little squeeze.

What a good girl. He's so proud of her for noticing and being such a good sister.

"Ella," Kate says. Ellery looks a little mulish when she gives Kate her attention, but Kate only smiles. "You have a kind heart, Ellery."

Ella's face breaks open, the stubbornness gone, and though Castle has no idea what that was about, it makes Ellery squirm tightly into Alexis's side. Allie puts her arm around Ella and squeezes. "Mom's right. You're making me feel better."

Dash perks up, head tilting. "Feel better? Are you sick?"

"She's not sick," Kate laughs.

"Okay. Eat up, guys," he says to the table. "Tomorrow we've got people arriving. And early. So bedtime will be soon."

Dashiell groans loudly, but of course that proclamation isn't really for him, is it? Castle shoots him a look, and he stops moaning into his plate.

"Just come find me," Castle tells him. "If it's a problem."

"Usually Mom," Dash says, a little thrill of excitement running through him.

"Mom's going to be busy tomorrow helping Gram, so let's give Mom a chance to sleep."

"Rick, you know I'll be fine."

He shrugs. "Dash. Find me."

"How about this?" Kate offers. "Why don't you start a movie in our room and they can stay until they fall asleep. Or..."

Or he can take Dash with him somewhere else in the house if it looks like sleep won't come.

"Hey, that's an idea. Dash?" Castle asks.

"Yeah, okay. A movie," Dashiell agrees, tearing into a hunk of bread that he's drowned in Tabasco sauce. Castle glances over to Ellery and sees her picking the ravioli apart to eat the filling with her fingers.

"Fork, Ella," he reminds her, nudging it her direction. "It's not really a finger food."

"You did make it?"

"Me and Mommy together."

"It's so good. I like ravioli." She sounds surprised, like dinner time is usually disappointing, and still she has to wade carefully around 'ravioli', the word coming out with effort. Castle laughs and thanks her, tugging on the hair in her pony tail. Ellery wriggles into Alexis, a little tighter, a little closer, and Allie leaves her arm around the girl and eats one-handed.

Castle smiles and looks away, discovers Kate has been watching him. She rolls her eyes with a nod to Ella, but he's still proud of their daughter - and so is she. All that stuff about having a kind heart. She really does, and even though she can be ornery and recalcitrant just to spite them, she can also have such a beautiful compassion for other people. He knows he's grinning like an idiot.

Kate is giving him her own version of the idiotic grin, though hers is suave and cool, and then she stands up from her chair and shifts down the table towards him, plants her plate at his elbow. She nudges their son's head with her fingers.

"Dashiell, switch with me."

"Why?"

"I'm sitting next to your dad. Now switch."

She grips the back of his chair and pulls him out; Dashiell giggles and slides off the seat, running for the head of the table where Kate usually has her place. Rafe hands down his plate and milk, Kate arranges everything sitting at Castle's right hand, and then the table falls back into noisy, happy eating.

He glances over at Kate with a raised eyebrow and she shrugs. "Missed you this week."

"And you want to be near me."

"No."

"Yes," he grins. "You missed my body."

She sighs and stabs her fork into a ravioli. Castle stretches his fingers across the scant space between them and strokes her arm until she actually blushes and shifts in her seat.

Yeah, she totally wants to be near him. Too bad she volunteered their bed for movie night.

* * *

The gate buzzes loudly for entry and Castle abandons the dinner clean-up to press this thumb to the intercom.

"The back drive is for wedding deliveries," he says quickly, shooing Ellery away from the stairs. "Ella, no. Wait on me."

"Uh, Mr. Castle? This is Alisha, Allie's old room mate?"

"Oh. Alisha. Sorry, wasn't expecting you-"

"Is that Alisha?" Allie squeals, running for the intercom. She knocks him aside and presses her finger under his thumb, taking over. "Alisha! I can't believe you're here. Why are you here?"

Laughter comes out from the speaker. "What do you mean? You're getting married tomorrow - you invited me!"

"No, I know, but we told everyone to come tomorrow morning for the bridesmaid's lunch-"

"Grace and I are both here. We decided to kidnap you since there's no rehearsal dinner."

Castle gives Kate a swift look, remembering the fight that was. Rafe isn't on such great terms with most of his family, and he insisted they not be allowed to set foot on the Hamptons estate until tomorrow morning. No rehearsal dinner. He seemed to think his mother would run Allie off.

Or Kate. Hard to tell whose respect he wants more. As it is, he's flushing bright red at the mention of not having a rehearsal dinner.

Alisha's voice comes over the speaker. "You gonna let us in, Allie, or what?"

Alexis opens the gate with a push of a button, and grabs the knobs to the double doors as if she'll fly halfway down the driveway to meet them. And then she disappears out into the night, doing exactly that.

Behind him, Kate laughs and shrugs after Allie's retreating figure, so they turn back for the kitchen. Castle scoops up Ella to keep her off the stairs and gives her raspberries until she giggles. He wants to give Dash time alone with the television to let him wind down for bed, and that won't happen if Ellery is messing with him.

"Help me clean up dinner, Ella," he says, kissing her again and dropping her on her feet next to the table. "Can you pick up our plates and give them to Mommy?"

Kate mans the sink once more, but she gives Rafe a little nod towards the hall. "You can go after her."

Rafe stands in the kitchen looking a little shameful. "I called them and told them to come get her. You think Allie will be mad?"

"I think she was trying to keep it fair," Castle says. "She didn't want to offend your mother, Rafe."

He winces and rubs the back of his neck. "Our friends from Chicago wanted to do something. So Alisha and Grace and that group are taking her out tonight, and then us guys..."

"Bachelor party?" Castle says, lifting an eyebrow.

Rafe blushes. "I should go wait for them." He disappears down the hall towards the front door.

Kate chuckles and nudges Castle. "Ella looks like she's ready for a movie. Right, baby girl?"

"What batch party?" Ella says instead, twining her arm around Castle's neck. "Daddy. What party?"

"Just a party for Rafe because he's getting married."

"I want a party," Ella says prettily, hanging on her father now, tugging at his neck.

"Are you getting married?" Kate says quickly.

"Yes. I marry Allie and Rafe." Ellery is give her a look like _duh_. "Tomorrow. I have a beautiful dress, Mommy, and _shoes_."

Castle tries to keep from laughing and just at that moment, the front door crashes open and he can hear the girls giggling and talking in the foyer as they come inside. They all turn but Alexis is flying down the hall and launching herself at Rafe, hugging him hard enough to make the guy choke.

"Thank you, thank you," Allie gushes, practically jumping him. Oh, wait, she is jumping him. A leg up, both legs around his waist now, kissing-

Castle grunts and lifts his hand to cover Ella's eyes, turns to head for the stairs. "You have fun partying, guys. I'm putting the impressionable little kids to bed."

"Sorry, Dad!" Allie is laughing behind them as he mounts the steps.

He wrinkles his nose and nuzzles his littlest girl until she giggles and grips his ears. "You wouldn't do that to me, would you, baby girl?"

"I party, Daddy."

"Not yet, you aren't."

"I party with Rafe and Allie."

"You party with me and Dash," he answers finally. "It's time to watch a video in the big bed and see if we can't fall asleep."

She sighs in his ear but lays her head against his shoulder. "For little bit, Daddy. I stay for little bit."

"All I ask, sweetheart." Maybe a little bit will be long enough for him to get used to the idea of his daughter no longer being the tiny girl in his arms.

* * *

When the kitchen is clean and the girls have kidnapped Allie, after Rafe has left them as well, Kate takes a breath of the quiet house and then pushes open the wide sliding doors to the back deck. Her feet are bare and the sound of the night swells as she steps down the path past the pool, takes a quiet trip towards her favorite spot.

The sand retains the heat from the last of the day, but the sun has already gone down. The closer she gets, the more she hears the rumble of the ocean far below. But she stops at a stand of old, wily trees that lay between the pool and the beach, and she raises her hand to the hammock's arc.

The rope is warm as well, and she sinks down into the easy cradle of the hammock, letting her body relax into its embrace. Overhead the trees shift in a soft breeze, obscuring her view for a moment, so she closes her eyes and drops a foot back to the earth to keep herself steady.

After a moment, Kate opens her eyes and watches the stars wink on like candles floating on a turquoise ocean, the sway of the hammock lulling her towards mysticism. With twilight descending and her heart at ease, she lets herself drift, lets the current of peace take her far away from everything she doesn't want to remember.

She loves this house, this place. She's so grateful that Castle worked at her long enough to make her the woman who can enjoy it. Grateful she's been given all of this. And grateful to have a moment before everyone else comes to claim them.

Since the caterers and wedding planners have left, the lawn is in shadows, no movement, no sign that the wedding will be here tomorrow, filling up the place. This stand of trees rests exactly halfway between the poolhouse and the beach, hidden to one side so she can see who comes and goes but they don't necessarily see her.

Still, her daughter finds her.

"Mommy."

"What are you doing up?" she asks carefully, turning her head to the little girl alone in the dark.

"I not tired."

"You're not usually my little insomniac."

"Dash is with Daddy," she answers, a little shrug of her shoulders like jealousy she won't admit to.

"But why aren't _you_ in bed with them?" It's out of her mouth before she remembers her resolve to stop rebuking this weekend, to let it ride, and she sighs quietly as Ellery turns her face away.

The little voice comes out of the darkness rather quiet, but sly in its way. "I just want to spend time with you, Mommy."

Right. Of course. "What a manipulative little thing," Kate hums, trying to gauge her daughter's true interest. She thinks maybe Ella only wants to be able to tell Dash, _well, I stayed up with Mommy. So there._ "Fine. Crawl up here with me, little monkey."

"I can?" Startled, swift, Ella's head turns back to her. "I get up?"

"Yes. Come on. The boys are watching a movie, so the girls can watch the stars." Kate puts a toe to the sandy ground and pauses the hammock's movement, lifts up to hold her hands out to Ellery. The girl grips one edge of the rope swing and takes her mother's hand, does a graceful tumble into Kate's lap.

"It's cool up here."

Kate smiles and wraps an arm around her daughter's body, lies back in the hammock with Ella wriggling beside her. She keeps her foot to the ground until they're both stable, and then she feels Ellery's fingers curling in Kate's hair, twirling.

It's an unexpected move. That's all. She's not getting tearful. Just surprised to feel those little fingers again, like both kids did when they were so small.

Kate tightens her arm around Ella and curls in to kiss her forehead. "Did you mean it's fun up here - cool - or is it the breeze you were talking about?"

"The air," she whispers. "Tickles my face."

"Oh," Kate smiles. "Feels..."

"Pretty," Ella sighs.

Pretty? Okay. The night air feels pretty. Well, it does actually.

Kate draws her foot up into the hammock and swings wildly for a moment, Ella giggling sleepily at the sensation, and then it settles down. Kate combs her fingers through the girl's hair, drawing wisps off her face, so fine and thick at the same time. It tangles easily, but Kate leaves those alone, a fight for another day.

Her baby girl's skin is soft, sticky on one cheek with ravioli dinner perhaps, and in the darkness, none of it matters but the way they fit together in the hammock. She lets the sway of the swing keep her content, the feel of the warm body pressed against her keep her in love.

Those little fingers in her hair make her melt.

"Mommy, I can have you all night?"

"Until sleep comes," she says quietly. Matching the voice, matching the twilight and the stars. Echoes of the ocean below them.

"You put me to bed?"

"I'll carry you inside, sweetheart. Tuck you in."

"You find my Totoro?"Ella sighs. It must mean she's very close to sleep.

"I thought you might want him. He's waiting for you on your bed." Kate wraps her fingers around the girl's knee for a soft squeeze, holding her against her body. The hammock dips in its arc and rocks them both, another tickle of wind moving across them.

It's quiet and the world keeps spinning, but she doesn't feel the need to run to keep pace with it, doesn't even need to leave one foot on the ground to keep herself stable. She cups her daughter's knee, her other hand cradling Ella's head, and she holds them both here, now. Tonight.

She doesn't even feel the moment Ella falls asleep; it is only a slow cast into slumber with the stars looking on. Kate turns her head to see the ocean and instead finds her daughter's face tilted up to her, as if caught in the act of adoring, lashes firmly on her cheeks, already in dreams.


	18. Chapter 18

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

Kate carries her daughter back inside the house, the warm body heavy against Kate's chest. She turns off the downstairs lights as she goes, the click of the lamp or the flip of a switch the only sounds. Ella's mouth is pursed at Kate's shoulder, hair damp against Kate's skin, but she mounts the stairs with her arms wrapped around her daughter, feeling blessed by the girl.

She feels a song swirling in her head but can't catch it. By the time she gets to Ellery's bedroom, the walls painted a muted, cool blue, she finds snatches of the words around her tongue but the melody still doesn't come.

She lays her daughter on top of the covers, tugs underneath her heavy body to draw the sheets down. Ella mumbles, sings something half asleep, and rolls over into her pillow.

Kate realizes it's the lullaby song that the lady bug nightlight at home plays, realizes Ella is half humming it as well. Somehow they've both thought of it tonight on the hammock under the stars.

She laughs softly, pressing a kiss to her daughter's cheek, and whispers the words of the song into her ear. The goofy song Castle made up to the wordless tune.

_I love you, little cricket, and how you chirp at me, all the ways I love you._

Ellery sighs and her mouth falls open, those rosebud lips, so Kate gives her another kiss and draws the covers over her little girl.

"Good night, Ellery. _Volim te."_

* * *

Castle leans over to rub Rex's back as he settles beside the bed again. Dashiell is on his stomach in the middle of the mattress watching Firefly on the ipad with rapt attention, but Ella left a while ago to crawl into bed. He thinks.

Not sure on that one.

When he straightens up, he sees Kate in the doorway, watching them with longing on her face. For what, he has no idea.

"Hey," Castle remarks, yawning as he does. Kate comes the rest of the way into the bedroom and nods to the boy. He shakes his head; Dashiell is still awake.

"Hey, Dash," Kate says quietly.

The boy shifts and the propped up ipad falls back again; he reaches out and adjusts it as he greets his mother. "Mama."

She sinks gracefully to the bed, then apparently she decides to give it up and she flops back to the pillows with a sigh, eyes closing. Castle laughs and shares a look with Dash; their son shrugs like he can't possibly figure her out.

"Kate?"

"I'm tired."

"All right."

"Mom, I can watch the ipad in my room," Dash offers, turning his head to look at her.

If Kate's as surprised as Castle is, she doesn't show it. She does open her eyes and meet Dashiell's steady look, but she shakes her head. "No, baby. I'll fall asleep right here with your movie on. What are you guys watching, anyway?"

"It's not a movie," Dash says. "It's a show. This episode is almost over, though. So I won't keep you up."

Castle lifts both eyebrows but Kate sits up and comes down on her elbows near Dashiell's body, kisses his forehead. "You're not keeping me up. But that's sweet to be thinking of me."

"Dad says you and Gram are doing the flowers?"

"Oh," she laughs, putting her cheek to the comforter, lying down. She really does look tired. Or just extremely relaxed. Not tired - sleepy. She looks drowsy and comfortable like she might drift away.

"Flowers are hard," Dash says sympathetically. Or trying anyway. "But Allie will be happy."

"Oh, yes, my man. Allie will be happy. And flowers aren't that bad. Gram knows what she's doing and I'm just there as an extra pair of hands."

That causes Dash to pause, glance down at his mother's hands. Castle laughs and nudges his foot into Dashiell's shoulder. "She means she's helping. Extra hands to help."

"Oh. I like that one," he grins. Dash reaches out and curls his fingers around a loose lock of Kate's hair, a strangely babyish gesture. "Is that... what kind of language is that, Dad?"

"What kind of language?" Kate murmurs in question. He knows it's for him, but she doesn't look at him; she seems entranced by the way Dashiell studies her hair, playing with it.

"Figurative language," he explains. "Part for the whole, Dashiell."

"Oh, that's the hard one," he sighs. His fingers release Kate's hair only to pick up a different strand and trail it across her cheek. Castle can't ever remember seeing Dashiell do something like this. It's weird even for him - the kid who likes some strange sensations.

"It is a hard one," he gives. "Mom? You know this one?"

"Synecdoche," she answers, her words soft and her eyes closing. "Substituting part for the whole."

"What's the whole?" Dash asks.

Castle waits a moment, but Kate looks like she's falling asleep and she doesn't answer him. He reaches down and takes Dashiell into his arms, lifting his son off the bed and putting his feet on the floor.

"The whole is the person who is helping - a worker. The part are the hands," he says quietly.

"Oh. Hands for worker." Dashiell nods and glances back to Kate; he looks at her... protectively. Is that it? Castle's never seen Dash like this before. He's getting older though, going into kindergarten in the fall. A boy should protect his mother, but he's glad his son has a father to take the responsibility of that job from such small shoulders. Castle never had that; he was the one doing the protecting.

Forcing a smile, he ruffles Dash's hair. "Looks like you put your mother to sleep. Let's head for your room, okay?"

Dash turns to Castle, a grin racing across his face. "I seen her do it to Ellie when she's tired. Play with her hair. It worked."

Castle stares at his son a moment. He doesn't know what to say to that, or why Dashiell got it into his head that Kate needs the rest, but whatever anxiety surrounded his offer to leave the room and then to hypnotize her to sleep - that's gone now. That protective urge has melted down into pride and the easiness of being a five year old. He's glad for that too.

"You did a good job, Dash," he says softly. Castle cups the back of his neck and tugs him into his body for a quick hug. "You're a good kid. I'm proud of you."

Dashiell hugs back for a second, but then he's wriggling away, grabbing the ipad to pause the episode. "Can I finish watching the space cowboys in my room?"

Castle grins. "Go for it. I'm gonna make sure your sister's in bed and then come tuck you in."

"Come on, Rex," Dash calls, and the dog lurches up from the floor still half-asleep, yawning and tossing his head as he follows his master out the door.

* * *

When Castle gets back to their bedroom, Kate is still head down on the bed, one hand up near her face like she fell asleep in the middle of reaching for their son. She might have, actually.

He leans in over her, a fist in the mattress for balance, and he strokes that loose hair off her face and back behind her ear. She stirs but doesn't wake, and Castle decides to leave her there while he showers and gets ready for bed.

He brushes his teeth while he starts the shower, scratches a hand through his hair. He glances in the mirror as he strips off his clothes, wonders how he got to be so old so fast. Grey hair at his temples, lines deeper in his face. His daughter is getting married tomorrow; he's going to walk her down the aisle and give her to Rafe.

Castle used to be the center of her world. If he's being honest though, even that was a few years ago. She's centered around Rafe now, the two of them in orbit together. It's good - as it should be - but he misses her more poignantly now with the reality of her upcoming wedding. He'll have the father-daughter dance with her on the beach but it seems like only a prelude to Dash and Ella growing up and beyond him too.

He sighs and rubs a hand down his face in frustration; he doesn't want to be morose tomorrow. He's proud of the man she's chosen, and he knows they'll be not only happy, but also _close_. Just a few blocks away, really. Rafe could have asked her to move back to Chicago where his family is from, but instead he came with her here.

It's fine. It's good. It'll be even better. He needs to get a grip on this.

The water is too hot when he first steps into it, and he has to back up with a hiss as he reaches to adjust it. And then he feels the cool blast of air at his spine as the door opens. He turns around and Kate slides inside with him, a soft smile on her face.

"I didn't mean to wake you," he says, but she only shakes her head.

She finds his hips with her hands, and then his mouth with her kiss, and he forgets about the water temperature or about his daughter getting married tomorrow, and he remembers only Kate.

How good she feels with him. How good they are together.


	19. Chapter 19

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

After lying awake in bed for an hour, Kate gives up at six and rises for the day. Castle is spread out on his side of the bed, not even close to touching her, but she feels too warm and restless to stay a moment longer.

She strips off her pajamas and pulls on running clothes, quietly laces up the shoes she reserves solely for the beach. When she pushes open their bedroom door, the hallway is only faintly touched with the morning light that spills in from the ocean.

Kate pauses before her son's door, debates opening it and possibly waking him. But he knows the rule - Mom gets to run first and then she comes back for him and their morning ritual - and he'll be fine, even if he is awake and has heard her.

She leaves the door shut and keeps on going, padding softly towards the stairs. Alexis and Rafe's room is empty; she hopes they stayed in the city and didn't try to make it back last night. It doesn't look good for Castle's last laser tag battle with his oldest though. Maybe she should tell Allie he was hoping for it. Maybe she should keep out of it.

Her shoes are light against the steps and then she slips through the quiet house towards the sliding doors. The air is still night-cool across her cheeks, but a hint of humidity haunts the tang of salt. Kate pulls the doors shut and stands on the wooden deck, listening to the faint sounds of seagulls and the rhythm of the ocean.

She gives a silent but heartfelt praise for the morning, for having the opportunity to work everything out on the sand, and then she starts down for the boardwalk.

She's already running - too fast, too eager - by the time she hits the beach, but she can't make herself stop. She wants it out, all of it, the last six months to somehow slough off with the morning and sweat and pound of her feet against the well-packed sand.

What Montgomery did, was doing, the ambush in DC, the feeling that Kate had only been lucky to escape it all alive.

Intact.

She churns sand with every step, its density making it a herculean effort, and soon she has to concentrate so hard on pushing forward that every dark thought slips away. The morning light gives just enough heat to the air that her sweat collects at the small of her back, soaks her sports bra. The twist of her footfalls in sand makes her calves and quads burn; she finds herself eating at the miles with a concentrated effort.

She's pushed past three private beaches and a stretch of long public shoreline when she realizes where she is, how far, and Kate pulls up to a stop, the ache in her side making her bend to one side and walk it off.

She scrapes her hand back through her hair, sweat making the strands sticky, sand itching her scalp. She loosens her pony tail and remakes it, breathing deeply to calm her heart rate, leaving her hands on top of her head to allow her lungs to expand.

After a moment, she tilts her chin up and closes her eyes to the sunlight, stops moving.

It's gone for now, everything crumbled under the weight of sand and hard work, and she opens her eyes to turn back for the house.

The run back will be murderous, but the hot shower at the end of it will be heaven. And hopefully the questions, the unknowns, the lack of closure will be banned for the day.

* * *

"Dash, honey, it's all gone," she apologizes. "But I can put a lot of milk in a cup of coffee and you can try that?"

Dashiell sits on the kitchen island countertop still in his pajamas - soft cotton in pale blue stripes - and his bare feet rattle the cabinets. "Hm."

"A lot of milk," Kate promises. "The sanka is all gone, but really, coffee isn't much different." It's not decaf, of course, but with milk and creamer, it won't be that bad. She hopes.

"Okay," Dash says cautiously. They've reinstated their hot tea mornings, as Dash still calls them, and she hates to miss out during their long weekend just because the Sanka has run out.

"Okay?" she echoes, just to be sure. "If you don't like it, you don't have to finish it. Daddy will when he gets up."

"Okay," Dash says, a little more confidently. "I can have pumpkin pie creamer?"

"Of course," Kate says, moving towards the coffee pot. She only pours the mug a quarter full to make up his cup, and then she turns and leaves it on the counter beside him. "Here's creamer. Here's milk. Want me to pour or you?"

"I can do it," Dash says, reaching for the milk. "To the top?"

"To the almost top."

Dashiell curls a knee up on the counter and uses both hands on the cardboard milk carton, one of those organic brands that they buy from the local grocer's. Dash's tongue sticks out as he concentrates, pouring carefully, his hair falling in his eyes. Kate doesn't dare distract him by brushing it off his forehead, though her fingers itch with it. He's the picture of absorption, so studious and serious with that face, and she wishes she could gather up that baby he used to be and hold him against her heart, protect all the vulnerable places inside him.

"Mom."

She sighs with her thoughts and gives him a smile. "Yeah, that's good. Right there." Kate takes the milk from him, screws the plastic cap back on while Dashiell moves for the creamer. "Wait, my man. Stir it first and taste it. You might want only a little."

"Okay," he says. Kate's coffee hasn't been poured yet - this just takes too long and it would go cold - and the dark scent of roasted beans lifts from Dashiell's mug, intoxicating. Smells like heaven.

And wakefulness. She's just been too wakeful lately, not enough sleep. Dashiell was in bed watching a Batman cartoon and seemed wide awake when she peeked in on him after her shower. He got up at once and followed her downstairs to the kitchen, but just like every morning together, he stays quiet with her, knows that the moments before their 'hot tea' are reserved for silence - at least until she can get a cup down.

Dashiell wraps his fingers around the mug, a green one just his size that she bought him for Christmas a few years ago, and then he cautiously lifts it to his mouth. Dash knows all the right moves and he ducks to blow across the top of it, his eyes on her.

Kate smiles. "One taste. You don't have to drink it if you don't-"

Dashiell takes a really big gulp of coffee - mostly milk by now - and his face beams with pride. When he swallows, his grin could light up the moon. "It's good."

"Yeah?"

"It's way better than hot tea."

She laughs and reaches out to card her fingers through his hair, kissing his forehead. "Yeah, baby, it is. Want to add creamer or is it done?"

"Maybe some pumpkin spice creamer. I like it."

"All right. Just a little at first." Kate nudges the creamer towards him and lets him have at it. The thing about their mornings is that Kate has always given up the idea of doing _for_ him, has always let him try it out on his own. She never meant to - it just happened that way. But she can see where the intimate mornings have allowed Dashiell the chance to be a little more careless, a little less cautious and rule-following.

She's made it okay to be clumsy here, to make mistakes and spill creamer and burn his tongue. The consequences are minor and no one else is around to see, and when Kate sits down with Dashiell at the table and they curl up together, anything goes.

She doesn't know how to do that with Ellery; it's never come up naturally in their relationship. Though perhaps that's exactly what Castle meant about courting Ella. Carving out the time, making it happen even if it's not organic. Maybe Ellery will respond better to some time that Kate has to create especially for her.

"This?" Dashiell asks, the creamer in his hands.

"That's good. Try it. See if that's enough."

Dashiell puts down the creamer and takes another hesitant sip. His grin is just as wide as before; he looks like he's discovered some unknown country. Milk and honey in his grin, land of plenty.

"Yeah, I like it."

"You good?"

"I'm good," Dashiell smiles, but he's already drowning it in his coffee mug, another long sip.

"Well, good. Now me," Kate says, turning back to the counter for the carafe. She needs to think about this some more - giving Ellery this same opportunity to be not-perfect for a while, to not worry about messing up.

"Mom, coffee is so good."

Kate spills a little as she laughs, the liquid burning her thumb, but she flashes a smile over her shoulder at her son, shares in his relish. "It really is. We'll make you a cup in the mornings from now on."

"Yeah," he says. "From now on."

She finishes up her own mug and turns back to her son. "I'll take yours; jump down?"

Dashiell hands over his coffee and she holds both a little away from them, watches him as he jumps off the counter. He's not a graceful kid, and he's fearless on top of things, so his sensory issues sometimes means he ends up bruised or scarred or in tears.

But Dash swings off and lands on his feet, just a knee knocking against the cabinet, and he runs towards the sliding glass doors. Kate comes behind him and waits as he opens it and the screen beyond, and then they both slip outside onto the back deck.

The air is close and warm now, faintly humid, and Dashiell scrambles up to the bench seating that runs around the deck. His too-adult face beams back at her, eager for his coffee, and Kate comes to sit beside him, their shoulders together.

The lawn falls off to the endless ocean, and Kate takes a deep breath of salt air, relaxing into the best part of her morning.

As usual, Dashiell is quiet beside her for a few sips, giving her the chance to appreciate the taste on her tongue and the hit of caffeine to her blood.

This time, she's the one to start their conversation. "When you were little-"

"How little?" He jumps in immediately, soaking up her words like a sponge. Castle was right - this kid will take anything she gives him, and Ellery disdains the easy attempts. She has to remember that.

"A year and a half. Almost two, but still more baby than toddler."

"Hm, I don't remember that."

"No, probably not," she smiles. "But I do. You were pretty talkative. You like to talk."

"Dad says I have words in me."

"You do," Kate says, nudging his shoulder with hers. "I love hearing all your words. But when you were really little - I took you out to the aquarium all by myself. Just you and me. Dad had to write and I was trying to keep you out of his hair."

"He doesn't have long hair," Dashiell says, head tilting. His _what does that mean_ face is on.

"No, it's a phrase that means Dad would spend more time looking after you rather than writing his book like he was supposed to."

"Why in his hair?"

"I don't know. You'll have to remember that one and ask your dad."

"Maybe 'cause if his hair was long, I'd be all tangled in it. But his hair's not long."

"No," Kate answers easily. She's learned to let their conversations ride, allow Dashiell his excursions down these strange linguistic dead-ends. She waits and gives him a moment, and then she can keep going with her point.

"Huh. I'll ask Dad to look it up," Dashiell says finally. "When I was not a baby and not a toddler?"

She grins; she thought he might like that little detail. "I took you to the aquarium. Just you and me. We spent all day and I thought you'd be so... chatty. Talkative. Too much for the fish."

"Fish don't talk back," Dash says, so serious.

"You're right. They don't. But you were impressed by the aquarium and the darkness and the tanks and the huge sharks. You didn't say very much at all because you just took it all in."

"I didn't talk?"

"Not until you wanted lunch. You asked for a hot dog." She smiles to herself with the memory of _whole hog_ and her frantic search for what that meant. "There's something impressive about the aquarium that you felt then, even as an almost toddler, and that's the thing you feel in the mornings too. What I feel in the mornings."

"Right here?"

"Yeah. Or at home. It makes me not need words. Or maybe that whatever words I have wouldn't even begin to explain how it feels."

"Oh."

"Did I lose you?"

"I missed the last turn," he says, giving her a cheeky little grin.

Kate laughs and leans back against the railing. "Dad taught you that one."

"Uh-huh."

"That's a good one. But here's what I mean. Even if you talk a lot (and you know your daddy does too) - even if you have a lot of words in you - I think it's just as important to know how to be quiet. To let the morning impress you into silence."

"Like Ellery. She's quiet."

"Yes," Kate agrees, smiling at him. "But if Ellery could have a little more words, I think we'd all appreciate it."

Dashiell giggles and leans his cheek against her shoulder. He sips at his coffee and she can see just how pleased and proud of himself he is that he likes it so much. She reaches out to brush the hair off his forehead, letting him have the silence again. Maybe he's thinking about what she's said, maybe he's not, but it felt necessary to let Dash know that he can learn things from his sister, from the morning silence with his mother, and not just from their conversations.

He swallows his mouthful and turns against the brush of her fingers, gives her a serious look. "I'm not too many words?"

"No, baby, you're not," she insists, heart twisting. She hopes it's a new question, hopes he hasn't been wondering. "That's what I'm saying. You talk more than me. More than Ellery. Yes. But you know how to be quiet too, how to be impressed and in awe. And mornings like this when we get to be together, it's perfect. I love talking with you but I love being quiet with you too."

"You're quiet more," Dash offers. "You and Ellie have less words. Me and Dad say lots of things."

"Well, I fell in love with your daddy because he has so many words. So you don't need to worry about that."

"Oh. Does Dad know how to be quiet like me?"

Kate bites her lip to keep from laughing. "Um. Yes, actually. Either he always knew it, or maybe he learned it from me, but Dad can be quiet."

"Mostly Dad has words."

"Mostly... yes. He does. But oh, Dash, when you were born? He held you and he was very, very quiet. He was so impressed."

"Oh," he says, something in his face that means maybe he gets it. Maybe he understands what she's saying. "Was he quiet when Ellie was born?"

"Yes," she says. She remembers the look on Castle's face like it was last night; she can close her eyes and see his awe, his adoration, can see the way he looked at his son, his daughter, like nothing had ever happened so beautiful to him before.

"Quiet like you are now," Dash says.

Kate opens her eyes and turns to look at her son, her inquisitive, smart little boy, and she leans in and kisses his cheeks just because she can.

"Yes, quiet like that."

"I love you, Mommy."

"Oh, my wild man, my love for you is more than even _you_ can ever say. All the words."

"All the ways," he says back, his voice happy, his smile so pleased.

"Yes," she murmurs. "Always."

Castle and Dash have taught her that while silence is rare and beautiful, the words are worthwhile too. She needs to take that lesson with her to Ellery and find a way to romance her daughter.


	20. Chapter 20

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

Kate is setting her son's coffee mug in the sink when Martha walks through the doorway. Dashiell is still outside on the deck - Kate was about to bring her second cup outside - but Castle's mother announces herself with a cloud of perfume and color, vibrantly competing for light in the sun-filled kitchen.

"Dear one, I have arrived. Where in the world is everyone?"

Kate glances at her watch and she's never been so surprised. "Martha, you do know it's only eight? What time did you leave New York?"

"Ah, well, Alexis is getting married and that only happens twice or three times in a person's life."

Kate presses her lips into a smile, shaking her head and opening her arms to Castle's mother. "Of course. You're right. But let's hope this one last a good long time."

"Oh, where's the fun in that?" Martha sighs, embracing Kate.

"It's so early," Kate marvels, releasing his mother with a squeeze. As always, she grows more reserved around Martha, more self-contained, a response to all the stimuli. She fights against it to give his mother another smile. "We didn't expect you until lunch."

She puts her hand at her large, beaded necklace. "I've been called upon to do flowers, Katherine. I have responsibilities."

"You're right. You are so right, and I'm supposed to help - I'm so sorry. I'm terrible at it. Hang on and let me get Dash from outside and we'll walk you up to your room."

"Oh, yes. I have a mess of things out on the front drive. The taxi-" Martha cuts herself off with a wave of her hand like it's of no mention, won't do to go into it.

Kate moves to the sliding glass door and pulls back the screen. "Dashiell. Gram is here. Come on in, baby."

Dash clambers off the bench and runs inside for his grandmother, barreling into her and chattering excitedly. Coffee, his first full mug of it, did she know that it doesn't taste like chocolate at all, did Gram bring her music because he found the piano in the north hall last night, Allie and Rafe _both_ left them to go have fun in the city. Dash effectively answers any question his grandmother might possibly have and Gram absolutely eats up his attention and excitement.

Martha is not only early, she's early for Kate's sake - to make her daughter-in-law feel better. And Kate has no doubt that's true, because she spent enough time telling Castle to remind his mother that the flowers would be a huge project and Kate absolutely couldn't do it alone, and now here Martha is at eight o'clock in the morning. And not at all pointed about it.

She's here for Alexis's wedding, yes, but she's here early because she knows Kate has been worried about the flowers. Martha is having mercy on her.

Kate slides the screen closed and heads towards Martha, wrapping her in another, tighter hug. "Thank you," she says quietly.

"Anything, dear one," Martha says. "Now, Dashiell, my little monster, I need you to grab my suitcases outside and take them upstairs for me."

"I can do it, Gram," Dashiell says confidently, running for the front door already.

Martha has has always been a good woman - and a force to be reckoned with - but no matter what their issues have been in the past, at this moment, Martha is also a good mother. Anything else that's happened no longer matters.

She's here when Kate needs her most.

* * *

Castle wakes to the stereo sounds of his phone vibrating with an alert and the doorbell ringing. He glances swiftly to Kate's side of the bed but it's empty, so he gives himself a moment to lie there. Probably the wedding planner. Or friends of Allie and Rafe's.

When clarity swirls up, he reaches a hand for his bedside table, pulls the phone towards him to light up the screen. The half message he manages to read is from Kate, which is funny, but she's taken to texting him at all hours of the day with things as they come up.

Usually about the kids, the things he's missing while he's at work - the same way he did for her when Dash was little and he was trying to make a good impression. He calls up his messages and reads her latest.

_Your mother is here to do the flowers, so we'll be in the wine cellar with the wedding planner. Dash wants you to take him to the beach. Don't wake Ella - I need to do it._

Huh, okay. She usually gets Dashiell in the mornings and he gets the little one, but maybe it's something to do with the flowers or the wedding today.

Castle rolls over onto his back and lets out a long breath, tries to get ready for the morning. He's tired and he's been working long hours and the bed feels really nice. It's only eight in the morning and he could doze here until nine at least, right?

"Dad?"

Nope. Guess not.

He lifts up on an elbow and sees his son poking just his head around the door. "Yeah, my man."

"Are you awake yet? Mom said not to bother you."

"I'm getting there. I need a shower first though."

"I made your coffee," Dash says hopefully, and then he slides into the room with both hands cradling a mug.

Castle grunts and gives his kid a smile, shifts upright to take the coffee from him. "You're a good kid. Come here." Actually, he hopes Kate made his coffee because Dash isn't supposed to be touching the hot carafe. They've had this conversation.

Dashiell comes into his chest for a side hug and then crawls over Castle's knees to get in the bed. "I can wait here while you shower."

"You got plans for us today? You're awfully pushy." He sniffs at the mug but yeah, it smells just right. Like Kate made it.

"Mom says not before a nine, but you're okay, right?"

"Kiddo, there's a reason Mom says not before a nine," he growls, but he gives Dashiell a wink as he sips at the elixir of life.

"You and Mom make the same kind of noise when you first drink it," Dash says.

Castle laughs and has to hold the mug steady. "Yeah, I bet we do." They've gotten so _alike_ lately, grown into each other or something. It's weird and sometimes cute but mostly a little scary. She does his things and he's adopted her mannerisms and they're yelling at the kids with the same voice and sometimes at the same exact time.

"You about to shower?"

"What is it with you?" he mutters, turning and grabbing for his son's side. "Ants in your pants?"

Dashiell giggles and Castle goes in for a few tickles, just to make him squirm, but he stands up and protects the liquid gold in a mug, presses it against his chest.

Kate does that, he realizes. She likes inhaling the warmth. He's picked that up from her. Wow. They're turning into the old married couple. Only four years, but it's all that time he spent following her at the 12th; it ends up counting in their together column. Doubles it. And then add the year he spent waiting for her to set a wedding date. Nine years then. Almost a decade.

"I'm headed for the shower now. Did Mom tell you why I'm not supposed to wake Ellery up?"

"What?"

"Nothing. Hey, go downstairs and watch tv until I'm done in here. You don't want to watch me shower."

"I can't watch you?"

Castle glances back and sees the kid's face fall, hurries to backpedal. "No, my man, you can if you want to. I just didn't think you'd want to."

"I like to watch you shave."

"Oh, yeah. If you want, you can watch tv and I'll come get you for the good part."

"Okay!" Dashiell jumps up and runs off, just like that, and Castle shakes his head, brings his coffee mug into the bathroom. Kate has always moaned about how Dashiell has inherited his father's avid curiosity, that when their son was a toddler, he would follow her into the bathroom, but Castle hasn't quite run up against it himself. Now he gets it.

And yeah, it's weird to take a shower in front of his five year old. Standing side by side at the urinals in the bathroom is one thing - Castle feels like that's a rite of passage and a father's job. But at home, the shower, the whole... yeah. No.

When Castle has downed half his cup, he finally the turns the water on and steps into the spray, makes quick work of it for Dash's sake. He starts connecting the dots a little faster, brain catching up to the morning, and he realizes that Kate will have her hands full getting ready for the wedding, and he's still not sure when and where he and Alexis might get a chance to have one last epic laster tag battle.

Might not happen. He knows that, but he still holds out hope. He will until the bitter end.

Castle towels dry and sucks down the last of his coffee, pulls on cargo shorts and a Green Lantern t-shirt because Dashiell was wearing his Spiderman this morning. He heads back out to the hallway, finger-combing his hair, and finds Dash in his own room watching television.

"Hey, my man. I'm gonna shave. You ready?"

"Yeah," Dash says, a little distracted but evidently determined enough that he tears himself away from the screen. His eyes are slow to focus but he gives Castle a grin. "I'm watching Teen Titans."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. It's good. My friend Tessa loves it."

"She does, huh? Where'd you meet Tessa?"

"At swim. She's Miller's sister."

"Oh yeah?" he asks, heading back for the bedroom. He doesn't remember meeting Miller's sister - just the high-maintenance mother. He wonders if the daughter is similar.

"Yeah. She's older."

"Ohhhh, really? An older woman, huh?"

Dashiell gives him a look that says he knows exactly where his father's going with this. "Dad."

"Yeah?"

"No."

"No?"

"She's... she talks all the time."

"And you don't talk all the time?" Castle laughs. He lets Dash precede him into the bathroom and he steps barefoot up to the vanity mirror. Dash puts his palms to the counter and slithers his way up to sit on top. His feet kick the cabinets as he inspects the items on the sink.

"I _do _talk a lot. That means I'm supposed to marry a girl who doesn't."

"Oh, is that how it works?" Castle can't help grinning, amused by this conversation. This must be how Kate's conversations go with him in the mornings. He usually gets the fun stuff about words or stories with the occasional serious stuff about Dash's different brain or why the world works the way it does.

Kate's the one who gets this side. The kid who sets rules for himself and for the world and then explains those rules to his mother like everyone should know them, like they all have the same rules. But now his kid is talking to him about girls. He's only _five._ "Who says you're supposed to marry a girl who doesn't talk as much as you?"

"Well. Mom did."

"She did?" He really doubts that, but as Castle gathers all his instruments to shave, he can't help but wonder how Dash got the idea, where the seed started and when. "She tell you why?"

"She said she fell in love with you because you had a lot of words."

"Well, uh. Huh. Yeah, I guess that's true. I wrote books and she read them. And then I talked a lot to her at work."

"And you told me that you love Mom real loud. Like bright colors are loud. So that she knew it and it made a difference to her."

"Wow. Yeah, I said that," he murmurs, glancing over at Dashiell. He seriously didn't think the boy was listening so closely. That was only four months ago, the two of them walking towards the 12th Precinct together to surprise Kate with her coffee. "That's true. I love your mom pretty loudly."

"So that's me too, right?"

"I love you too, yeah."

"No, I mean. It's... I have a lot of words. So I'm supposed to marry a girl I can tell all my words to, right?"

Castle stares at Dash for half a second - long enough that Dash starts to look worried. He shakes out of his stunned surprise and instead hooks his arm around Dashiell's shoulders, draws him in for a hard hug. Deep pressure, the way he likes it. Gives Castle a chance to recover.

"Yeah, kid. You find someone you can tell everything to and you keep them for life. You hear me? I don't care who it is - Mom won't care who it is either. We'll love that person no matter what."

"Dad," Dashiell grunts. "You're crushing me."

Castle chuckles and lets him go, shaking his head as he reaches for the shaving cream. "You and Mom must have had a good talk this morning."

"Mom gave me coffee."

"Real coffee?"

"Yup." He beams, so proud.

"Well, you're firing on all cylinders. Coffee does you good." Castle hands over the shaving cream on impulse, hunches over with his hands planted on the counter on either side of Dashiell so they're face to face. "Lather me up, my man."

"Really?"

"Yup," he echoes, grinning again. "Since you're so smart today."

"Awesome." Dashiell grins wide and pops the top off the can, making it ping against the wall and bounce across the tiles. Before Castle can say anything, Dash is squirting a mountain of shaving cream straight onto his father's face and Castle flinches at the cold. "Hold still, Dad."


	21. Chapter 21

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

Kate leaves Martha in the wine cellar taking care of arranging the flowers and she sneaks up the stairs to find Ellery. It's a little after nine in the morning and even though that's early for their girl, she'll be excited enough about her dress and shoes for the wedding that Kate thinks she won't mind.

Or so Kate hopes. There's not a lot of free space left in the day for Kate to find a moment with her daughter, and she wants to take the time with her, be with her. She remembers how Castle was always in her space at the 12th Precinct, present and waiting for her to figure it out. Castle kept putting himself in front of her, sly and laughing and goofy, and he never quit.

Kate is going to do that. With Ellery. She's going to worm her way back inside her daughter's fierce heart.

She pauses on the stairs and hears Castle and Dash from the bedroom, both of them laughing, the lower tones of her husband's rumble carrying the higher giggles of her son's silliness. She grins and heads the opposite direction, moving for the girl's bedroom.

Kate pauses at the door and takes a breath, then she twists the knob and pushes inside. Lincoln is downstairs in his new beach house, and not having the lizard looking at her and begging for a scratch under his chin is strange. Still, it gives Kate the chance to focus on her daughter - _makes_ her focus on her daughter.

She shuts the door after herself and studies the still form curled at the foot of the bed. Ellery is so small under the blue bedsheet - her new favorite color these days. Her dark hair has dried in tangles no doubt, and Kate should really get the comb and the detangler spray and work it out.

But that's not what she's here for. And that will definitely put her daughter in a bad mood.

Kate slips out of her sandals and slides into bed with Ella, curling up across from her daughter's small, sleeping face. Light-limned lashes fall on those round cheeks, her face not as angular as Dashiell's but definitely long. Her mouth has opened with sleep, pink and puckered, and she looks like she's slept hard all night.

Until Allie gets home - whenever that might be - Kate is free to take as much time as possible to rouse her daughter.

So she wraps an arm around the girl's back and pulls close, close enough that their noses brush, and she strokes her fingers along the knobs of Ellery's spine. The shirt smooths under her hand and she kisses the soft apple of her girl's cheek.

Ellery doesn't open her eyes, doesn't even stir, but there's something there. Kate hums with laughter that she won't spill and slides closer, kissing Ella's ear, dropping to her neck. She blows lightly against the girl's skin and a giggle pops out of her little mouth. When Kate pulls back, Ella's eyes are still closed, but tightly now, trying.

"I think you're awake," she says softly. "Aren't you, sweet girl?"

The eyes squint harder, lips pursing now too, and Kate lets herself laugh as she draws her daughter into her arms, lying on her back. Ellery giggles again, like it's escaping without her permission, renegade happiness, and Kate nudges her nose into the sweet, warm skin at her daughter's neck, aching for more of it.

Ella sprawls over her chest and giggles, tight little sounds like she's trying so hard to keep it in. Kate nuzzles her and cups the back of her head, kissing her cheeks and chin and nose until Ellery pulls back, eyes open.

"You did sleep with me, Mommy?"

"I came in while you were asleep, yeah," she grins. "And I sneaked into your bed and wrapped you up in kisses."

"Oh, you did. All over me," Ella sighs, her shoulders shrugging in and her head tucking down to lay at Kate's chest. Her little fingers grip her mother's shirt, release, grip again. "All over me."

She's humming. Her daughter is humming against her chest. A song that Kate half remembers but can't quite catch. Little bursts of words come out softly under Ella's breath, body shifting over her mother.

Kate would never have stayed this long a week ago; she would have wanted to start the day, get moving, find Ella clothes and her comb, goose her to get going. Ellery's mood would have been sour from the start, of course, so it's not like it's Kate's fault that she's so surly in the mornings, but this is different.

It's vacation and a Saturday too - which is always Castle's day to recover, do nothing, sleep all day. When Kate makes herself stop, her mind is still going, schedules and lists and plans, and it's obvious that this is not how her husband - or her daughter - engages the world.

Even now, in bed with Ellery humming on top of her, Kate can't help planning her next move, trying to see what lies ahead, find the right path. This might be part of her problem - always looking for the next step - rather than dwelling with her daughter in the moment, in the silence.

With Dashiell, Kate always has an objective and a goal in mind - their hot tea mornings, getting her caffeine in, using each experience to teach him something. Even during their conversations, she's going step by step through the words, using each question and answer to get somewhere, to fulfill an agenda. She knows this incidental learning is a holdover from the days when his therapist, Julie, made every interaction with Dash into a teachable moment. Kate has picked up on that style as her parenting method of choice.

It's not bad, she doesn't think. It's very good for Dash and for Kate as well. But it doesn't always work for Ellery. She approaches life like her father - craving spontaneous and seeking out wonder - despite Ella having so much of Kate's personality.

She's only three; Kate's willing to give herself some leniency for only now catching up to her daughter's little quirks. But from now on, she's going to be intentional about this. She remembers finding seashells on the beach with Ella last October, remembers how gorgeous those hours were together, how the awe and pride mingled in them both.

"Mommy," Ella sighs, but it's more like a song. Not even a request, just the hum of her little voice and the droop of her mouth in soft drowsiness.

"Hey, Ellery," she whispers. She's determined not to ask if Ella is ready to get up, determined to let her daughter set the pace.

That fist in her shirt eases, like maybe she's been expecting all this time to be pushed out of bed, and Kate lays her hand on Ella's back, purposefully closes her eyes.

The humming transitions into singing, little snatches of verses, and then Kate hears the words clearly.

It's the Lullaby song that Kate used to play for her in the crib, when she was worried that her so-tiny baby would have her brother's problems with sleep, would need soothing and softness and a voice to listen to as she drifted away.

Ellery is singing the Lullaby song into Kate's neck.

_How long do you want to be loved? Is forever enough, is forever enough._

"Forever enough," Kate hums in time against the top of her head. "'Cause I'm never giving you up."

For as long as Ella needs; this is where Kate will be.


	22. Chapter 22

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

Rick Castle stands under the archway that connects the main house to the detached, four-car garage. He's left the door open leading back inside so he can keep an ear out for Dashiell, but his eyes are on the path that leads down towards the back lawn and - eventually - the shoreline. He can see workers scurrying like ants as they set up the last of the chairs for the ceremony.

They've taken down one side of the fence around the pool so that Alexis and Rafe will have their reflection out across the water while they say their vows. The pool's guest house itself will stage the reception, all of the food and drinks set up inside on elegant tables, a display of their engagement photos along with the guest book front and center. The arbor that screens both pool and guesthouse grows thick with wisteria blossoms, simple white bows adorning the four corners, the blooms drooping long tails of purple.

He's had to keep the kids away all day, and while Kate's been entertaining Ellery effortlessly these last few hours, Dash wants so badly to swim in the pool that it's becoming ridiculous. "Dash, you ready?" he calls over his shoulder, back into the house. He was planning on taking the kid down to the beach.

Dashiell screeches something back that sounds like _hold your horses_ which is funny, though not respectful, and Kate's trained him well enough by now to think he ought to probably say something about that.

Respect. When Dashiell was a toddler, Castle saw the way the boy acted when he was frustrated or full of himself, and it had seemed so much worse to him when Kate was given that backtalk. It wasn't okay for her to get that attitude, not Kate. So Castle started disciplining Dashiell for disrespecting his mother, working his way towards establishing those boundaries he never had with Alexis, the perfectly conscientious girl.

For goodness sake, she grounded herself one year in high school for jumping the turnstiles on the subway. He let Alexis do whatever she wanted because she was so often more responsible than he liked to pretend - but he thinks some of that's coming back to bite them now. Over the years - the party in Harlem in which he discovered she'd been smoking pot, the time in Chicago when she'd moved in with her boyfriend and had lied to him about it - Alexis doing what she wanted, assuming she was mature enough and smart enough to handle the consequences, has led to some pretty life-changing events.

At the time, she just didn't have the experience and skills to make the right choices. She's older now, and yes, he trusts that last night she wasn't stupid, but it took Kate's involvement in his life for him to see clearly that establishing rules for his kids' behavior was not only necessary but also good for them.

He thinks Ellery would be impossible without those boundaries.

And just because Dashiell is funny in his disrespect doesn't mean that he should be allowed to get away with it.

Castle has just turned to go back into the house by the side door when he hears the car coming up the driveway, smooth and clean in the quiet. He pauses and sees the taxi climb the ribbon of road towards the house, wonders who this is coming so early.

But when it stops, it's Rafe who gets out, leaning over at the front passenger window to give the driver cash. Alexis is sliding a leg out of the back seat, an impossibly high platform sandal coming into view, and then Rafe offers his hand and helps her emerge. The two stand together, Rafe in grubby jeans and a black t-shirt, but Alexis in a light sundress, hair pilled loosely on top of her head. She looks beautiful, and happy, and it makes his heart ease.

The taxi continues on around the circle and back towards the road, but his daughter and her fiance stay where they are, not moving. He realizes that neither of them can see him standing here at the side of the house, that they think they're unobserved, taking a moment out of time. He should go inside, but instead he stays where he is, observes them.

Rafe reaches out and brushes a strand red hair behind Allie's ear in a gesture at once familiar but also new. Alexis, once the little girl that would hang on his arm so Castle could sock-ski her down the hall, now curls her hands around Rafe's bicep as she comes in close. They're talking, the words not coming to him over the sound of the ocean and the trees, but he sees Alexis laughing, her head dipping towards Rafe's shoulder to rest there a moment.

He takes comfort in knowing that even though his daughter still has her heart-wounds because of her mother, because of his parenting mistakes, she's marrying a good man who will partner with her in this life, and together they will make it work.

Rafe will do for Alexis what Kate has done for him. Polish his sharp edges and complement his nature, provide for their kids what they need to grow up into good people. That's what he wants - not just that they're happy, but that they make the world a better place for being in it.

Before Kate, he's not sure he would have ever said that. Her happiness was paramount, no matter who got in the way or how it had to be achieved. And he parented Alexis without understanding how vital it was that she was not only enjoying herself but also putting love out into the world as well, living sacrificially for others. So if his oldest daughter is confronting some long-buried issues this week, he hopes he can somehow make it up to her for his part in helping to create them.

"Dash," he calls back into the house. He sees Alexis startle from the corner of his eye, her head turning towards him. "Dash, I'm out front talking to Allie. So take your time."

"I can't find my trunks," Dashiell wails back.

"Castle, I've got it," he hears, and then Kate's low murmurs as she tries to talk Dashiell through some problem solving. _Dash, did you look in your drawer? Did you check the suitcase? _This is why Kate is so good at this, why he's grateful to have his partner.

Castle shuts the side door and heads towards Rafe and Alexis, walking quickly so he can catch them before they go inside. But Allie seems to have spotted him and they wait at the edge of the paved drive, holding hands. Kate's ring is on Alexis's finger, the stone gleaming in the brilliant sunlight, the simple sundress making the engagement ring seem more prominent.

If he's messed up with his daughter, he's also given her enough to fix it - the ability to think independently, self-awareness and a sense of a movement greater than herself, the foundation for a good relationship, and well - Kate. He's given her Kate, and the way Kate is both role model and sister, mother and friend. He's looking forward to the day when Ellery comes home and finally opens her eyes to see how great her mother is, that time when teenagers turn into young adults and realize how much wisdom their parents have, how grateful they are for it.

"Hey, Dad," Alexis says gently. She opens an arm to him and wraps him in a half-embrace, her other hand still in Rafe's. "Thanks for holding down the fort. Everyone down at the pool?"

"Yeah, it's under control. You guys have a good time?"

"The best," Alexis giggles. "Rafe's friends took him to the Old Haunt - they didn't even know it was yours. We met up with them there later."

Castle chuckles at the look on Rafe's face. "Oh, yeah? That's great - more business. How was the food?"

"You don't want to know," Rafe says, shaking his head.

"Oh, no," Allie laughs. "Rafe, don't be mean."

"No, no. Be mean," Castle insists. "I wanna know how it fares. It's bar food, but we're working to change it up."

"I could help you out if you wanted," Rafe says suddenly. "I mean. Not officially because of the non-compete clause in my contract-"

"Madison made you sign a non-compete clause?" Castle yelps.

"Yeah." Rafe shrugs. "A lot do nowadays. Make sure you're sticking with them."

"Wow. Harsh."

"It's okay. But, I'm serious. You want some good, fast dishes for a bar - I can work up a menu."

This is something he hasn't thought of before, and he sees possibilities opening up before his very eyes. He's wanted to do more with the Old Haunt, but he's lacked the time. "Hey, now. That's - we could work something out here."

Alexis clucks her tongue at him. "Dad, hush. Rafe you have no time for more projects. Let's get married first and then we'll see."

"Yes, ma'am," Rafe says obediently, giving her a slow grin.

Castle sighs. "Well, when your _mom_ gives you permission, come find me."

Alexis slaps his shoulder and elbows him aside. "Quiet. Don't ruin him, Dad. He's well-trained."

Rafe groans at that and Castle laughs, clapping his almost-son-in-law on the shoulder. "Don't fight it, Rafe. Just let it happen."

He's about to follow them inside when the sound of tires on the pavement alerts him to another car coming up the drive. He turns and sees another taxi pulling in, realizes the day is going to be like this.

He probably won't have time to sneak Alexis off and have a game of laser tag. Not with guests showing up all day. And she'll be busy getting things arranged with the wedding planner, seeing to friends as they get settled. Kate warned him, but he still finds himself being bummed by it.

The taxi halts at the front doors.

"Who is that?" Rafe mutters. "If that's my mother, I swear, I'm not letting her out of the cab. I'll make her turn around. I told her the wedding was at five and she wasn't allowed to show up before then."

Castle laughs but his amusement dies in his throat when the back door opens. Meredith steps out with that graceful, effortless, and supremely sophisticated energy about her that he used to fall under, spellbound, when he didn't know better. It's all surface tension.

"Oh, no," Allie whispers. "It's _my_ mother."

Castle turns his head to his oldest and the desolation on her face makes his heart constrict. "I'll go get Kate," he offers.

Alexis gives him a fast, hopeful look. "You will? Please."

"It'll only take a second. She's helping Dash find his swim trunks." Castle leans in and softly kisses his daughter's cheek. "It's okay, pumpkin. It's your day and your decision. We'll back you up."

"Thank you, Daddy," she murmurs, kissing his cheek back.

He hurries into the house to get Kate before Meredith can catch up to them.


	23. Chapter 23

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

Castle watches as Kate steps through the foyer and out the open door, her body swathed in light as the sun catches her.

"What's up?" she asks. She came when he called, and now she lifts a hand to shade her eyes as she meets him just outside. "Oh, I see Allie and Rafe are back."

"And Meredith is here," he explains.

Her eyes touch his first and then go back to his daughter and fiance, her gaze judging, weighing, assessing. She turns her head and calls back into the house. "Ellery! Get out here, little monkey."

Ella scampers out immediately, like she's been waiting just past the doors for her mother's voice, and Kate leans down and picks her up. Castle tilts forward to kiss his baby's cheek, and she squirms down into her mother's arms.

"You can handle this?" he asks softly.

"Yes, definitely," Kate murmurs back. Her fingers lightly touch his forearm and then fall away; she's moving past him for the driveway with Ella on her hip.

As a screen? Perhaps. That's clever of her; he knows she can't stand the way Meredith hangs on people.

"Meredith, how was the flight?" Kate says easily. She's not over-enthusiastic, but her confidence puts Alexis at ease, which in turns translates relief to everyone else. "Did you call the car service or get a taxi?"

"Oh, I didn't think of the car service," Meredith pouts, but she looks pretty doing it, and she knows it. The mention of the car service also has the added benefit of making Meredith think that Kate - and the rest of the family - believe Alexis's mother deserves that consideration in the first place.

Kate's a sly one. He's impressed.

"Let me show you where you'll be," Kate says. "Here, I'll take your suitcases and you take Ellery. She's excited about your shoes. Ella, sweetheart, you remember seeing pictures of Alexis's Meredith?"

Ellery leans out for her and Meredith does as she's told - that's the most surprising part; she looks pleased to take Castle's youngest in her arms. Ella cuddles up to her like this has all been planned, explained ahead of time in a women's conspiracy.

Kate takes the handles of both suitcases, waving Castle off with a look. "Dash wanted to go down to the beach," she reminds him carefully. Which means, _I got this__._

So Castle watches them walk towards the front of the house and then turns back to Alexis. "Well, mom's got it covered."

"Wow," Rafe says. And it's all he says. He stares after Kate and at a nudge from Alexis, his cheeks flush and he turns back to them, a hesitant glance to Castle.

"Yeah, man, exactly," Castle says. "I understand all too well. You should see her in an interrogation."

Alexis huffs and rolls her eyes, grabs Rafe by the hand. "_Boys. _Come on. We need to check out the guesthouse."

"Actually," Rafe says, taking a step back and tugging on their clasped hands. "I have to head for the kitchen first."

"Of course you do," Alexis sighs, but she lets go of his hand to kiss her fiance's cheek. "Go to the kitchen. I'll take care of the set-up."

As they leave, Castle realizes that he's the only one still on the front lawn, and in his swimming trunks and a t-shirt no less, still standing slack-jawed over his wife's entrance and exit.

Well, time to take his son to the beach, looks like. He'll let the rest of them handle this.

* * *

Dashiell is deep in sand, half his body inside the pit, while Castle digs a trench around the outer edge of their structure. "How's this, my man?"

Dashiell lifts his head and peers over the edge. "Yeah, that's good."

The trench on the beach is about as large as a refrigerator and just as deep. Castle's not sure what it's supposed to be, exactly, but this is all under his son's confident direction. Dash is coated in fine white sand and he's spent the last few hours doing the heavy work of digging; the kid is going to sleep hard tonight.

"Hey, Dad?"

"Yeah."

"If there's a water horse, you think this will get him?"

Castle sits back on his haunches, wonders where this is going. "Uh." Water horse. When did they talk about those? He can't remember, but he's half-afraid it was a horror story told on Halloween about gnashing teeth and blood in the ocean and beasts that rise out of the deep.

"Cause I think it would, but we can't take any chances."

"Right, of course. Yes. Well, how big do think a water horse is?"

"I don't know. Why I'm asking you."

"Fair point," Castle muses, hiding his smile in another scoop of sand out of the trench. "Well, water horses are pretty big - they gotta fight the tides, right? So I think maybe deeper."

"Yeah, deeper," Dash echoes. "Hope he fits in the stable."

His head disappears again in the center pit, and Castle can hear him working again. He wonders how much his son has caught on to the general drama going on in their family this morning, but then again, this is Dash. He's pretty oblivious.

"Why are you looking for a water horse?" Castle asks, still scraping out sand, but more slowly this time. "You think they're going to be out here?"

"I gotta protect Allie's wedding. A water horse would stampede and ruin everything."

"Ah, right." Castle nods like that's the sagest thing he's heard all day, and actually, it might be. He's still mildly moping over the loss of his daughter's childhood, though in all fairness, he doesn't mind at all that Alexis is headed down the aisle towards Rafe.

Could have been so much worse.

A water horse from the sea _would_ ruin everything. "I'm with you, buddy. I don't want anything to happen to ruin Allie's wedding."

"Hey, Dad?"

"Yup."

"If there is a water horse, I don't want to make it so deep it'd kill it. I just want to hold it here until everything is over. We could even let him go back to the sea if we can't get him into the stable."

"Yeah, you're right. Not cool to kill the water horse."

"I have a horse too, and they could be friends, right?"

"You have a horse?"

"My knight's horse. I mean, I don't play with him any more, but maybe that means he needs a friend? He'd like a big water horse as a friend. I think. Ellery took all my knights and made the dragons eat them so the horse is all alone. I think a water horse could beat up a dragon."

Castle grins, feels dopey and mushy listening to his kid's soft heart and wild tales. His kid. Totally. "Yeah, let's make sure we don't accidentally kill our water horse."

"So not too deep. Maybe just break his leg a little?"

Castle laughs, can't help it, and Dashiell's head pops up from the hole to look at him. He waves his son off and keeps digging, amused and grateful to have Dash as a distraction. He can take the time to be present with his son, to hold on to Dashiell's childhood with both hands today, ease his heart over the ways that Alexis has grown up and moved on.

He's proud of Alexis, but he can't help dwelling on how her little hand felt in his, how the two of them haunted the playgrounds of Central Park in an effort to dispel the loss of her mother. He poured himself into his little girl because he felt the lack, but here this morning, he appreciates the ease that comes with knowing his kids have both their parents.

"Hey, Dad?"

"Yes."

"I think this is deep enough. Can we stop?"

Castle sits back, dusting sand off his hands. "Of course. It's your pit."

"Oh, good, yeah." Dashiell moves to the edge of the pit and lifts his arms. "Lift me?"

"All right." Castle leans over and widens his knees to brace himself and then scoops Dashiell up out of his pit. "There you go. How's it look?"

"Ideal."

Castle chuckles. "Nice word."

"Yeah? Mom said it this morning."

"Ah, yes. Mom has good words."

"She said it means the best of a thing."

"Yeah, wow, good definition too. Mom's getting better and better at that."

Dashiell gives him a funny look for that, but Castle waves it off - private joke. He grips the back of Dash's neck and pushes him towards the ocean.

"Ready to wash off?"

"Yeah, I wanna jump the waves." Dashiell kicks a shovel out of his way and puts his hands on his hips, studies his elaborate trap. "Hey, if I don't get a water horse?"

"Oh," Castle says. "Yeah?"

"Maybe I'll catch a mermaid instead."

"Of course, right." Castle follows Dashiell down towards the waves, smirking to himself over his son's imagination. He's got a head filled with stories, and Castle likes seeing the way it all connects for the kid.

"Dad, but if I get a mermaid, she might need buckets of water to keep her from drying out."

"Oh. Huh, good thinking, my man. What should we do about that?"

"After Allie hitches up, can I come down here and check out my pit?"

Hitches up? Nice one.

Castle glances down the beach towards where most of the guests will be during and after the reception, debates leaving a huge hole in the sand. "Well, we might want to put stuff up to mark our spot. So we can find it later. In the dark." And so people will see it just in case they come down this far.

"Oh, _cool_," Dashiell says, eyes growing wide. "In the dark?"

"Yeah, wedding's going to be late, you know. So you and I will be adventurers in the dark. Check our pit for water horses or mermaids."

"Awesome. What can we use to mark it? We need a lot of good stuff that will glow or something."

"I don't know about glow. But I bet we can find big stuff to help us out. Come on, I think there's driftwood down near Vinny the Scar's beach. He never cleans it after storms so it gets piled up."

"That's the monster guy, right?"

"Mobster," Castle corrects, leading the way towards a wilder section of the shoreline. Trees have been uprooted and washed out, pulled back by the tides, mangled and twisted with the kind of salty growth that happens near water. Wait, mobster? How does Dash know that?

"A mobster guy," Dash repeats. "What's that do?"

"Did Mom tell you Vinny was a mobster?"

"I don't know."

"You guys talk about what Mom does as a police detective?" Castle asks carefully. Kate's been sensitive about letting their kids see the darkness, but ever since Montgomery was killed, she's slowly given Dash and even Ellery more and more of a watered-down version of the truth.

"Yeah, course," Dash says easily. "What's a mons-mobster do?"

"He... uh, runs a business. But not everything he does is legal."

"Oh?" Dashiell halts on the beach. "Is he a bad guy?"

"He's not always a good guy," Castle answers honestly. "But he's not going to hurt us. We have a mutual friend."

"Mobster guys have friends?"

"Yeah, they have families too," Castle explains. "Vinny has two daughters - grown daughters, though; they're never at his summer house - and he's got six or seven grandkids."

"Is that why Mom hasn't arrested him yet? Cause he's a Grandpa?"

Castle winces and tries to figure out a way to talk about jurisdiction and a rock and a hard place. "Uh, well. Mom has no evidence. She needs evidence to arrest someone."

"Oh, then why do we call him a mobster if we don't know?"

"Oh, we _know_," Castle mutters. "My friend who knows Vinny? He's a mobster too. Low level though. Some money laundering. Still, it's all true."

"But that doesn't make sense. Why do _you_ have a friend who's a bad guy?"

Good question. "He's more like a source - information. When I write a book about bad guys, I have to get the details right. So I make friends with people and learn their stories, how they do things, why they do things."

Dashiell looks utterly mystified. "Is that a good idea? They're _bad guys._"

"Well, it seems to work," Castle chuckles. "But don't worry. I got Mom to keep me straight; she wouldn't let anything happen to me."

"Has Mom ever arrested you? Like the police horse."

Castle sighs. "No, she's never arrested me." Oops. "Well, actually."

"I knew it."

"I was still young and stupid. Mom and I didn't know each other so well. Oh, actually, then there was another time too, but..." He winces and thinks about changing the subject.

"Twice? Mom's arrested you twice? Dad, you gotta stop having bad guys as friends."

Castle laughs and tugs his son into his side for a hug. "You're so right. Let's see if we can't catch a water horse or mermaid for a friend instead. Get us some wood, kiddo. We'll mark our trap."

"Pitfall, Dad. Remember?" Dash looks pleased that he's pulled that word out from their vacation nearly a year ago. "It's a pitfall."

"You're right, a pitfall. Good job, Dash." And Castle hands him a piece of driftwood. "Drag this back to our spot."

Dashiell goes, seemingly unfazed by the whole conversation about having bad guys as friends.

He'll have to warn Kate though. It's bound to come up.


	24. Chapter 24

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

Ellery is pulling out Meredith's shoes one by one, handing them over with a solemn face that does reverence to the occasion and plays up to Meredith's sense of drama. Kate is pleased she's thought of it, lets the two of them entertain each other while she figures out how to get the ball rolling.

"So, Meredith, how's LA?"

"Superficial and calculating and so much fun," Meredith grins, cheeky and adorable, Kate has to admit. She slides her hands over a pair of white linen pants and gives them to Kate as if Kate is her personal attendant. Even so, Kate takes a hanger and slides them over the bar, puts them in the closet.

Meredith unfolds her dress from where it has been carefully pressed into the top of her suitcase, dislodges a few nonexistent wrinkles with a flick of her wrist. Ellery slides a foot into what has to be a Louboutin, the red sole marking it distinctly, and Meredith glances at her.

Kate tenses, suddenly realizes this might have been a terrible idea.

"Oh, you have good taste, Ellery." Meredith hands her the other shoe and Ellery beams, sits back to put it on as well. Kate, stunned, watches as Ella attempts to stand in what are impossibly high heels.

Even for Kate, those black stilettos would take her a moment to get her bearings.

Meredith reaches out for Ellery's hands, lifts her upright, holds on to her as Ella glances over to give her mother such a proud look.

"You're a natural, Ellery," Meredith gushes. "Look at you. If I let go, can you do it?"

Kate wants to intercept, but she doesn't. She holds back and Meredith lets go and Ellery wobbles, her feet jammed into the bottom of those shoes, her knees bent to absorb the upset in her balance, but she stays.

She looks breathless and in awe over it, but she's standing.

"Good job, Ella," Kate calls softly. She doesn't want to distract her daughter, break her focus, but it happens anyway. Ellery looks back over her shoulder at Kate and tumbles down as she loses her balance.

Meredith catches her, cooing as she sets her on her feet - out of the shoes - and Ella flushes at being made over, not liking it. She backs away and stands at Kate's side instead, but her eyes are on those shoes.

Kate drops her hand to the top of Ella's head, fingers combing through her daughter's hair before she hugs her close for a moment. Dash likes it, but Ellery doesn't, and she ducks her mother's touch and stands on her own between the two women.

Still watching the shoes.

"Try again," Meredith says suddenly, lifting her hands out to Ellery. "Come on. I know you want to. They're just shoes."

Ellery goes to her, takes her hands, and steps into the shoes again.

Kate suddenly and ridiculously wishes she had bought those green Jimmy Choos with the faux diamonds that encircled her ankle like a delicate bracelet. Castle wanted her to get them, but she couldn't imagine spending eight hundred dollars on a pair of shoes she wasn't even sure she'd find a time to wear.

She wishes she had them now to entice her daughter.

But that's not how it's ever been for Kate, and that won't be how it is for her kids. She won't buy their love or attention, and she's not letting Castle do it either. Any more. He's been giving them things this summer, she realizes. And it has to stop.

"Ellery, you're so tall," Meredith gushes. "Can you twirl around?"

And - clomping and stuttering - Ellery twirls around. But her eyes go to Kate, her fierce pride is for Kate to see, and her mother gets down on her knees and leans in to kiss her cheek softly.

"Look at you, standing in those shoes," she murmurs quietly. "Tell Mere thank you."

Ellery beams, turns her head to Meredith again. "I say thank you."

Meredith soaks it up, throwing her arms around Ellery and rocking her. "Oh, what an adorable little thing you are. You know Alexis loved putting on my shoes - oh, and my dresses and make-up too. Would you like to see all my beautiful clothes? Pink and yellow and beautiful pale green."

Ellery pulls back, rocking in the shoes so that Kate lifts a hand to her back and lightly guides her into balance, so lightly Ellery must not feel it. The girl peers into Meredith's suitcase and then wrinkles her nose.

"No. I like black."

"Black?" Meredith says, looking a little horrified. "Surely not."

"My favorite's black. Red. I like blue too." Here Ellery shrugs. "Not pink."

"I have a beautiful, soft pink silk..." Meredith trails off with a sigh. "Well at least you know good shoes."

"Good shoes. I'm tall as Mommy," Ellery says, glancing over her shoulder once more. Hopeful.

"Just about," Kate agrees. "And they're black and red, huh?"

Ellery grins.

"Thought so. Can you help Meredith hang up all her clothes while you're in those shoes, or should we put them away?"

Ellery peers down at her feet, looking quite intent, calculating the likelihood of being able to wear them any longer. Then she sighs and squats down, rocks forward to her hands and tries to lightly kick off the shoes one by one. Her head upside down by her hands, she glances at Kate from behind a dangling shoe.

"Help, Mommy. They stuck."

Kate laughs and reaches out to peel the shoe off her daughter's hot, sweaty little foot, and doesn't fail to catch the faint revulsion that slides over Meredith's face.

Well, then. Looks like Meredith is trying for Alexis's sake as well. That's interesting. Kate wasn't expecting that.

* * *

She leads Meredith down the shallow stone steps from the main kitchen and along the short hallway that ends in the wine cellar. It's appropriately spooky and dank down here and Ellery edges closer to her mother even as Kate pushes open the thick, heavy wooden door.

Meredith sails right on by. Kate forgets sometimes that Meredith used to be the woman of the house. That irritates her in a way it shouldn't.

"Dark in there," Ella says at her side, fingers coming up and curling at the back of her mother's knee.

"But Gram and the wedding planner are down here with the flowers so they've got the lights on. It's just this first part, sweet girl. Daddy likes to keep it creepy."

"It is so creepy," Ella says, but there's a little relish in her voice now and she steps forward. Kate keeps still, lets her daughter venture forth on her own, and she follows along behind her when Ella has a good lead.

The stone hallway eventually branches off into a wider and brighter array of wooden racks, wine bottles carefully laid on their sides, the walls giving off a damp chill even in summer. Alexis is down here as well, and her face is smooth as she greets her mother, without the anxious pinch it had outside in the driveway.

"Oh, there you are, Mo-" Alexis cuts herself off when she starts to greet Kate, a flush rising in her cheeks and a nearly comical despair in her eyes.

Kate sighs and shakes her head at the girl. "Meredith has gotten unpacked and I asked her to help with the flowers."

"I hear Katherine is an absolute mess about the arrangements," Meredith laughs lightly. She casts a beaming glance to Kate and then to her daughter, as if sharing some witticism. "I've offered to lend a hand. Martha, you remember how excellent I always had this place? Fresh flowers in every room."

"Oh, have you seen what Kate did to remodel the main kitchen?" Martha says. "It's exquisite. It makes the whole place feel like a home rather than a museum."

That stalls Meredith for a moment, and then the wedding planner jumps into the fray, directing the woman towards a water bucket filled with peonies. "These are for the bridesmaids bouquets, so if you could..."

"Of course. I'll have them done in no time."

"Bridesmaids," Allie whispers, her eyes cutting to Kate. "Mom. I forgot - that's in an hour."

Meredith calls out something from the buckets she's been given direction over, but Martha intercepts, heading towards her with a comment about nosegay and baby's breath in her day and age. Allie grabs Kate's arm with wide eyes.

"We'll get it done," Kate says quietly. "Ella, honey, come upstairs... Actually, I mean, do you want to come with us and set up for lunch?"

Ellery looks suspicious for an instant, but probably the idea of remaining down in the wine cellar isn't appealing. Which is good, because Kate doesn't exactly trust her down here with only Martha and Meredith for supervision.

"I come upstairs with you," Ella says finally. She lifts her hand to her mother's and Kate takes it, surprised by the gesture, and they follow Allie back down the stone hallway towards the door. Allie must be worried, because she takes off a fast pace, and Ellery is still intrigued by the dark shadows that lead back from the racks and racks of wine.

"Mom?"

Kate catches up to Allie at the stone flight of stairs leading up into the main kitchen, touches her elbow to let her know she's there.

Allie sighs. "I just... I want to call _you_ 'mom' and this has gotten complicated - I don't want to keep censoring myself and worrying about how she'll take it."

"Well, Allie," Kate starts, tugging on Ella's hand to get her to stop playing on the stairs. "That's what being an adult member of a family is about. You do things because you honor and love the people in your family - even the people you didn't get to choose."

Allie flattens her lips and her eyes look stormy, but she doesn't comment. Kate can see it anyway, how Meredith has never been an adult in Alexis's family to start with so why should Allie?

"Hey, look at me." Kate stops her just before they step into the kitchen. "You and I both know how it is, and what we mean to each other. I am so honored that you call me 'mom'. I won't tell you to stop, not even in front of Meredith. But as my kid, I'm asking you to be respectful of our family. And whether we like it or not, Meredith is family."

Allie's shoulders slump but she wraps her arms around Kate and clings so tightly that Ella's hand falls away. She feels the little girl darting around their legs to run into the kitchen, hears Rafe's comment of surprise at seeing her, but she has her arms full with Allie.

"It's going to be fine, Allie. Please don't stress about her - not today. This is your day. Your wedding. To a wonderful man. That's what's important."

Allie nods against Kate's neck and squeezes harder before letting go. When she steps back, her eyes are suspiciously wet but she's holding her chin up. "You're right. I won't let it get to me. Rafe's already going crazy just thinking about what his mom and brothers might do when they get here. I really thought _my_ family would be a cinch in comparison."

"We'll work around it," Kate promises. "Now, let's get started on setting up the lunch. Are we doing it in the master dining room or outside by the pool?"

"Oh, I want Ella to come," Allie says in answer, guiding them both into the kitchen now. "So not at the pool. Ellery, will you come to my bridesmaids' lunch today?"

Ellery is sitting on the counter where Rafe has her caged by his arms as they study the strawberries he's shaped into swans. She turns her head to Allie with a fierce look of pride.

"I can go too? I get to wear my shoes?"

"Well, this will be different from the wedding, Ella, so not those shoes," Kate interrupts. "But we'll find you something fun to wear."

"My bouncy skirt?"

"Sure, of course," Allie answers, sliding in close to Rafe at the counter. Kate can't help but notice the nudge of a hug that Rafe gives her, support and strength. Allie reaches out and taps Ella's nose. "So you'll come? I really want my sister there."

"Yes!" Ellery says, throwing her hands up and looking so very much like her brother that it shocks a laugh out of Kate. She doesn't even try to smother it, only reaches forward and snags a piece of cast-off strawberry.

"Come help up us set it up then. Okay?"

"And then we get ready? Shoes and my bouncy skirt and my lizard?"

"No lizard," Allie says, wrinkling her nose. "One of my friends is afraid of snakes."

"Abe Lincoln is not a snake," Ella says witheringly.

"Yeah, but she doesn't know that."

Ella tilts her head and gives Kate a funny look. "How she not know, Mommy?"

Kate bites back the laugh and instead lifts Ellery off the counter, setting her on her feet. "Some people - it looks the same to them. Snake and lizard - all reptiles."

"Abe Lincoln has _arms_," Ella protests.

"I know, sweet girl. But that doesn't mean anything when you're afraid."

"Oh," Ella says knowingly. "Like the dark."

Oh. Is Ella actually afraid of the dark? Kate cups the back of her head and leads her out towards the master dining room, knowing Allie will follow. The serving dishes are all stacked in the buffet table against one wall, and it will be easy enough to get it ready.

"Like the dark," Kate finally says. "I was afraid of the dark when I was your age."

Ella doesn't comment and Kate is stonewalled by her silence, but she thinks maybe Ellery _is_ afraid of the dark. And too stubborn to admit it.

It's only been a morning, but already Kate knows more about her daughter than she expected to discover.

Though she still needs to talk to Meredith.

Oops. That has to be next.


	25. Chapter 25

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

Dashiell isn't happy about getting a shower after the beach, but Castle just doesn't have the time to let him wallow in a bath.

"Hurry up, buddy." Castle knocks on the frosted glass door and calls over the sound of the water. "Stuff to do today."

"Hurrying," Dash yells back. Castle hears the end of his word cut off in a giggle of choking water and he shakes his head.

"Hey, kid, don't drown in there."

He moves away from the door and heads back through the kids' bathroom towards the hall, literally runs right into Kate and Ellery.

"Hey guys," he murmurs, leaning in and scooping up his little girl.

She squirms in his arms, avoids his kiss, and drops back to the ground. He watches her dart away, heading for her room, and he gives a look to Kate.

"She's excited," she apologizes. "Allie asked her to come to the bridesmaids' lunch. Which - by the way - is in thirty minutes. I need the boys out of the house."

He grunts and rubs a hand down his face. This weekend is turning out to have very little to do with vacation and a lot to do with work.

"Hey, none of that," Kate murmurs. She's sliding her arms around him and coming in closer, that seductive thing she does with her hips and her fingers at his spine, tunneling under his shirt. "Don't be a baby."

"I'm not being a baby," he mutters.

"You're pouting a little," she hums, her mouth brushing his.

"No, I'm not. I just miss my wife."

Her teeth tug on his bottom lip, just enough so that he feels it, and she gives him a kiss at the corner of his mouth. "Miss your wife?"

"And my daughter. Both my daughters. Dash and I are buddies, but there's only so much guy time a man like me can take."

Kate laughs, bright and amused, her arms around his neck as she pulls back to look at him. "You're hilarious."

"I'm serious," he grumbles.

"That's what makes it so funny. Such a manly man. Back off, ladies; he's all mine."

"Shut up."

"Should we all go get manicures after lunch? Family trip to the spa?"

"You're teasing me, but that sounds like a good idea."

"No, baby. Sorry. No time for that." She shakes her head at him, still laughing.

He gives her a melodramatic sigh and squeezes her hard, arms crushing her ribs to make her breathless, and some of her indulgence disappears, eyes darkening on his. Her tongue darts to her teeth and she leans in for him.

"Oh, but we got time for this?" he laughs softly.

"No. More's the pity." She sighs and nudges her cheek against his, eyes closing so that he feels her lashes, and he raises a hand to the back of her head, suddenly worried about the change in the air, the tension in her body.

"Hey, you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she soothes, but she's soothing herself.

Castle holds her, keeping close, rubbing his hand up and down her back. There's nothing to say because there's nothing going on other than the things they've always been dealing with, and he can't make that better.

It sucks, but he can't make that better.

"Miss your mom?" he sighs.

She nods against him.

"Your dad's coming out here after lunch, right? You two should-"

"No, I'm okay," she says, drawing back. She skims her fingers under her eyelids, presses to the corners for a moment. If she was crying, he can't tell now. "I keep wanting to ask her - to just call her and ask her what I'm doing wrong with Ella, or how to deal with Dash's drama, or what happens next, but she's not here."

He keeps his mouth shut because she does best working it out in the silence. Her hand presses to her forehead and then drops and she's giving him a smile now. It's a little watery, but it's there.

Some days, Castle wishes Roy Montgomery had never opened his mouth that night at his retirement party. If the man had just gone on out the door as planned, if he had just kept it to himself like he'd done for the last decade and instead put it on the FBI like he was supposed to...

But of course, then they wouldn't know the truth.

She squeezes his bicep and leans in, kisses it. "Thank you."

"I didn't do anything," he protests.

"You did enough," she murmurs. "Now let me find Ella and get her dressed."

"Love you, Kate," he adds. It's the best he can do.

She strokes her fingers at his jaw, a moment of tenderness that makes his breath catch, and then she pats his cheek a little harder and winks. "Why don't you take your son to the spa? The two of you can get manicures while the girls have their fancy lunch."

"You mock me," he threatens with a growl. "And yet, I'll do it. And when Dash asks me if he can get black fingernail polish for the wedding - I am so letting him."

"_Dad_," Dashiell squawks, entirely affronted. "I don't wear fingernail polish!"

Castle huffs and turns to find his son standing in the hall with the too-big towel clutched around his skinny hips, dripping wet all over the floorboards. Kate laughs and pushes him towards Dash, heading for the opposite direction.

"I was messing with your mother," he sighs, gripping his son by the back of the neck and turning him around. "Come on. Let's go."

* * *

"This is kinda cool," Dash says excitedly. His feet swing from the bar stool as he and Castle eat ice cream at the old-fashioned counter. "It's just the guys and just the girls today."

"Well, for a little while longer. We'll come back together for the wedding." Huh, kinda apropos that way. Nice. Castle pulls out his phone and opens the notes to write that down, and he sees the message he left for himself to write Kate a poem.

Whoops. That totally got forgotten.

"Hey, guess what, Dash?"

"Hm?" His son has a spoonful of mocha ice cream in his mouth and he lifts both eyebrows as he looks at his father.

"I'm going to write Mom a poem, and you're going to help me."

Dashiell drops the spoon, shock crawling across his face. "I can write with you?"

Whoa, okay. His kid gets it - the books and money and being published. He has to, based on that face. "Yeah, of course. Of course."

Dashiell glances down at the floor where his spoon has landed, but Castle stays him with a hand, slips off his own stool. He picks the spoon up and places it on the counter, pushing it towards the serving side, and holds a hand up to the waitress but she's busy and doesn't see him.

"Here, my man. Take my spoon. I'm done." He hands his son the one from his bowl and dips it into the scoop of grape that Dash got. "Gotta put away the last of it. Mocha and grape. You have some of the weirdest taste buds."

Dash doesn't even falter. "How do I write a poem?"

"Well, I usually start with the idea first. What I want to talk about."

"Huh."

"See, we're writing one about mom, so that makes it easier."

"Is this a love poem?" Dash says skeptically, one eye squinting as he digs into his ice cream again.

"Hey, man. You love Mom, right?"

"Oh. Yeah. I guess so."

"You guess so?" he laughs.

Dashiell flushes and dips his head, speaking into his ice cream. "I love Mom," he mutters, like it's embarrassing.

"Well, then that's what we talk about."

"What else?"

"Since it's about how we love Mom, you gotta tell me some reasons why you love her," Castle says. "I'll take notes and then we'll arrange it into a poem."

"Why is a poem not a novel?" Dash's feet are swinging, thundering at the counter, and Castle leans over and presses his hand into the boy's knee to stop him.

"Well, a novel is really long and it's written in prose. A poem is in what they call verse. Although, huh. Now that I think about it, there are prose poems as well."

"What?" Dash grunts. "They're breaking the rules."

"They are. I agree. But actually, we might end up writing Mom a prose poem. It sort of depends. I'm not much a poem writing guy, but Mom likes them so I do it for her."

"Like the books you write for her?"

"Sort of."

Dash puts his chin in his hand and sighs. "I can't write a poem."

"Sure you can. It's just a short way to write a story. You know how words sometimes have all these cool meanings? Well, you get to play around with words like that in a poem."

Dash looks confused, but at least now a little more willing. "I like words."

"All right, so tell me why you love Mom."

"Because she's Mom."

Right. Castle hesitates, but he goes ahead and writes that down anyway. Never know with a poem. "Can you tell me why though? Like - yeah - she's Mom. But what does she do?"

"She stays awake with me," Dash says quietly.

"Oh, that's good." Wow. That's really good. He jots that down and can't help adding a few phrases to it that spill out after: _in the lightest of the dark hours, the breathing of the world, when the coffee perks so do we_.

Not the best stuff, but the mood is there. He can get back to it later. "Anything else? Why else is Mom... Mom?"

"We talk about stuffs."

"Stuff." The grammar sometimes really kills him. And Kate thinks it's _cute_ so she reinforces it, totally undermining all his work.

"Yeah. Like all stuffs. Like you do too. My friend Miller said that his mom tells him he ought to shut up."

"Whoa," Castle grunts. "That's... a different way to do it."

"I wouldn't be any good at shutting up all the time. But Mom said this morning that she's proud of me when I talk but also proud of me when I'm silent. She said you were really silent when I was born."

That's not exactly his recollection of Dashiell's birth; he mostly had a lot of bumbling nonsense coming out of his mouth. Stuff about the splinter theory of problem solving, like he was some kind of philosopher. And then after she'd bled out and nearly died, it was a lot of just... he's pretty sure he proposed to her five times at least.

"Mom appreciates people who choose their words wisely," Castle says finally. "She thinks before she speaks. Not many people can do that."

"You should write that one down," Dash says, leaning over his arm to peer at the screen. "Wait, I didn't say that. When the coffee puh-puh-parks?"

"Perks. You can read that?"

"Course."

"Has Mom been reading with you at night?"

"Yeah, we're reading Harry Potter."

"Oh, _man_," he mutters. "I wanted to read that with you. When did you guys start that?"

"Couple weeks ago," Dash shrugs.

Where was he? Oh. Working. So not cool, Beckett.

"What's perks, Dad?"

"Oh, that's what we call it when the coffee is brewing. Percolating. It's a short form. I guess it should be p-e-r-c maybe."

"Is that like a dog perks up his ears?"

"Huh. No." He rubs his jaw, still distracted by the Harry Potter introduction that's happened without him. He should have been there for that. "Uh, ears perking. Well, that could be the same kind of thing. Do your ears perk up when you drink coffee?"

"Not my ears," he giggles. "But I guess I get... coffee with Mom makes it okay to be awake."

"Oh, buddy, that's good too. I'm writing that down. See? You can so write a poem. You're good at this."

"I am?" Dash says, looking pleased. His face curls up a smile and he shovels another bite of ice cream into his mouth.

Castle chuckles and taps out Dashiell's confession onto his phone. _Coffee with Mom makes it okay to be awake._

"You know what else about Mom?" Dashiell says suddenly, sitting up a little on the stool.

"What?"

"I like the way she smells."

Castle grins and meets his son's happy eyes. "Yeah, buddy. She smells pretty great, doesn't she?"

Dashiell sighs and wriggles on his seat. "She smells like Mom."

And even though Castle was thinking more about that soft spot at her neck or the fall of her hair, the light touch of her perfume at a book release party or the heavy press of her lotion along the arc of her legs, now he's thinking about just Kate, how her presence lingers everywhere. The scent of their home that she carries, embodies. And how _that_ is poetry in and of itself.

"I did good?" Dash asks.

He presses a quick kiss to the top of his son's head. "You did good. We'll knock this out and give it to Mom at the wedding."

Kate is poetry. He likes that a lot.


	26. Chapter 26

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

Ellery is the princess of the bridesmaids' lunch - a dragon princess, of course, but catered to and exclaimed over nonetheless. Kate lets her go, content to have her happy as the center of attention, while she slowly works herself into a corner with Meredith. A literal corner though, and hopefully not a figurative one.

Allie and her friends - just the three girls who took her out last night - are so focused on Ellery that Kate can tell Meredith is starting to get antsy. She fingers the edge of the silverware and keeps throwing in comments designed to draw their attention, but Alisha is holding court at the moment, telling Ella a story about her experience with a fashion designer in Paris last year. Not that Ellery cares, but it has something to do with shoes, and she's being included, and so she stays rapt.

Kate lays her hand over Meredith's arm and guides her back to their discussion of LA traffic, nudging her back to a two-person conversation once more. It's not what Meredith wants, but she seems willing to cede ground to the louder, more engaging Alisha. For now. She might be biding her time though.

It probably helps that Kate is trying her hardest to look interested. She wishes she had Ellery as her buffer for this, but she won't take her daughter from the older girls; it's obvious Ella adores them.

When the intimate lunch has finished and Alexis starts cleaning up plates and silverware like the servant-hearted girl she is, Kate quickly takes over, sensing her moment. "No, don't do this. Meredith and I will clean up. Give you girls a chance to check out the wedding venue. We'll come along later."

"I go too, Mommy?" Ellery asks from her place in the middle, up on her knees in the chair so she can be as tall as the other girls.

"Allie, you mind?"

"I've got her," Alexis says easily, already reaching for Ella and scooping her up. "Come with me. Mom, uh, you and... Meredith don't do too much. The guys should have to do something too."

"Oh, we won't," Meredith says airily. Kate can see that despite their intentions, Meredith's picked up on the distinct orientation of 'Mom' in that sentence. "You girls go."

Sounds like Meredith wants to talk to her as well.

As the girls leave, Ellery in her sister's arms and seemingly content to be there, Allie gives Kate a look of appeal, pleading and helpless. Kate can't help leaning in to kiss Ella's cheek and brushing a kiss to Allie as well, quick and hopefully surreptitious enough that Meredith won't notice.

"Thanks," Allie breathes against Kate's cheek. They disappear down the hall and towards the sliding glass doors, opting to take the back deck and the boardwalk down to the pool.

"So, Kate," Meredith calls from the kitchen. She's brought her own plate back but it looks like she's left the rest for Kate to handle. No problem. It's a way of asserting her superiority, Kate knows, but it doesn't work on Kate. Not now.

"So, Mere," she says back easily enough, collecting the bridesmaids' plates in a stack. Modeling was easier than waitressing, she confessed once, and she's still not that confident in the balancing of such fine china. All Castle's decorator's picks, but they're still good stuff and gorgeous. She leaves most of it still on the table as she goes in to confront the ex.

Ex-wife, ex-mother as well. Though perhaps you can't ever be an ex-mother. Perhaps that's the point.

"She's not calling me 'mom' anymore," Meredith says without preamble. "I've noticed."

Kate gently lays the dishes in the sink and takes the dish rag to wipe down the mess made on the counter when Meredith ran water over her plate. She studies the effort of her work for a moment and then turns to face the woman.

"I did attempt to warn you. That this might happen. Five years ago."

"You were warning me?" Meredith asks, genuine surprise on her face. "I thought you..."

"That day we talked I was letting you know - giving you fair warning - that I intended to treat her like my own, for Dash's sake if not for Alexis herself." In the beginning, it really was mostly for Dashiell's benefit. She wanted her son to feel that his family was connected, and not just pieces jumbled together under the same roof - because that's how Kate had felt about herself with Castle. Now, of course, that's not it. And even back then, it quickly became about the girl - meaning something to the girl whose heart also had a mother-sized hole in it.

"Oh, that was you throwing down the gauntlet?"

Kate sighs. "It wasn't meant to be a duel," she promises. "Only that I wanted Dash to have his sister, to feel his family was there for each other. And if that was going to happen, then it'd have to be true. We'd have to pick up each other's pieces and come through for each other and actually be a family. So I took Alexis."

She isn't even apologizing for it, though perhaps she is apologizing for some of the consequences. For Meredith not having anyone who calls her 'mom' any longer, though Kate can't quite feel guilty, even if she does sympathize. Meredith danced her way into it as surely as Kate led Alexis there.

"To be honest, Kate, I didn't understand most of what you were saying. Only that you were quite worked up over Dash having a real family and I felt impressed by you, impressed that you were being so purposeful about it. It never occurred to me that family would be purposeful. Family has always been the people who already happened to you. To me anyway - the ones I've been stuck with." Meredith frowns and flicks her hand out as if dismissing that insight. "Or well, that sounds gauche. You know what I mean."

Kate isn't sure she does. She runs her fingers over the edge of the sink, places the dish rag back over the faucet. She'll have to put in the laundry room and get a clean one; she can't stand having wet and dirty like this. But now is not the time. "I didn't know how else to do it but purposefully. After my mother's death, family never happened to me. I had to create it in order to survive. It had to be purposed. With Rick, with my friends at the 12th. It was always work for me. I think it still is."

Meredith glides a hand through the air towards the open sliding glass door. "Perhaps if I had been purposeful then Alexis would still be calling me 'mom' instead."

Kate lifts her eyes, stands strong under that pronouncement. "She does call me 'mom'," she answers. Confirmation, should Meredith choose to take it that way, that Meredith has never been purposeful about treating Alexis as a daughter.

She won't take it that way, of course. She'll only see it as a statement of fact and not the implicit accusation that Meredith never tried to retain her status as Alexis's mother. Never once tried.

Kate has stolen Meredith's daughter from her, but it's not like she wasn't so very easy to steal. If it was Ellery, Kate would never have let it get to this. Would never have given her over to Meredith without a fight.

"I think you've done for her what I can't," Meredith says finally, nodding. "It's obvious to me that Alexis requires... that purposeful kind of motherhood. It's always been obvious she needs more than most can be expected to give. Good for Rick for finding her someone who doesn't mind."

Kate sinks back against the counter, caught unaware by the sentiment in Meredith's tone - and the strange, backhanded compliment. And perhaps concession.

But it comes to her again - if it was Ellery. If Ellery needed something from her mother that Kate couldn't give, what then? Would she cede her daughter over, just for a little while, if it meant that Ella gained that intangible thing she wouldn't take from her mother? Kate's not perfect - she doesn't even feel she's all that _good_ at this when it comes to Ellery - and now she can see that the day might come - may come, in fact - that Kate will have to give her up.

God, it leaves her sucker-punched.

Karma will come back on her; she has to do this right so right is done to her.

"Meredith, Alexis has asked me to sit beside Rick during the ceremony - at his side. And if you don't mind, you'll be on his other side."

"One on either side," Meredith muses, a gossamer smile on her lips.

"He doesn't care," she offers. "He'll be too busy with the effort of smiling through his tears. I know you'll both be so proud of her."

"Certainly," Meredith smiles wider, more permanent, less ephemeral, and she gestures for the sliding glass doors. "I assumed you'd be sitting with the family. Is that what this was all about, Katherine, darling?"

Well, not exactly. "Yes," she says calmly. It's not Kate who is sitting with the family, but Meredith. If that's how the woman needs to see it, then Kate will leave it be.

Meredith takes a broad step towards the open doors. "I want to catch up to them, see the set-up. I hear the pool's guest house has been transformed. You coming?'

"Of course," Kate says in relief.

Maybe Meredith understands what's been said, maybe not. But as they head down towards the pool where the chairs are set up, Kate knows that the placecards in their seats with their names on them will be the true test. Either Meredith will keep her mouth shut, or it will all blow up in their faces.


	27. Chapter 27

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

When Castle walks down the wide aisle between the rows of wooden folding chairs, Kate waits for him at the end of it. Her eyes are alight with all that significance and he can't help the grin that catches his lips and tugs them wide. She's casually beautiful, like it requires no effort at all because it shines from within, radiating under her skin. She's in his favorite jeans and a thin tank, bare shoulders and her hair skimming them, curling at her ears.

She holds out her hand for his and he takes it, fingers lacing, the two of them together.

"Oh, jeez, what a ham," his mother says, a flick of her fingers in his direction. She turns back to Alexis and the girls waiting, but Rafe gives him a head nod in welcome. His groomsmen are standing off to one side, checking out the girls across the way.

"Ignore her," Kate murmurs as she leans in close. "I'm happy to see you."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah." And she doesn't even follow it up with a comment, which he expected; she only puts her head against his shoulder like a _girl_ and stands close to him.

Maybe it's the wedding rehearsal doing it to her. Broad daylight, right after lunch, that sleepy effect the ocean air has. Their children are arrayed before them in equal parts eagerness and boredom: Alexis and Rafe being eager, Dash and Ella being bored. He rubs his thumb over Kate's knuckles because sometimes it feels like he needs the contact with her skin so he won't burst out of his own.

Martha and Meredith and the wedding planner seem to be duking it out for the bride-to-be's attention, the redheads' voices louder and louder, and that lets Castle watch his family instead, stop paying attention.

Ellery is dancing around the line of bridesmaids, a mock bouquet in one hand made of beach grass and pale blue wildflowers. Her outfit is - he supposes - bridesmaids lunch appropriate with her skirt and purple sandals, but the black tank top with the sparkling dragon fire on one shoulder doesn't exactly mesh with the wedding theme. She's balancing on one foot and hopping now, her pony tail bouncing, wisps of it curling at her ears just like her mother.

Dashiell has slumped into the first row of chairs and swings his feet, kicking clods of grass and dirt even though Castle has already told him twice not to do that. The boy has a spot of grime just under his jaw that Castle thinks must be ice cream, and another on the collar of his Spiderman t-shirt. Castle glances down at his own shirt, but the Green Lantern insignia is clean. Whew. Never know. Dash is the kind of kid that crawls all over, touches everything, and sometimes that means their clothes are innocent bystanders.

Kate shifts at his side and he glances down to see her stifle a yawn, grins to himself. Her head rolls a little on his shoulder, but she jerks upright, stands straighter, looks like she's trying to pay attention. He and Dashiell basically had ice cream for lunch, so he should probably get the kid inside for a sandwich later, but he heard Kate and Ella had a tea with the bridesmaids. They can't have eaten all that much, dainty things, and he could probably make the girls sandwiches too.

He nudges her hip with the back of his finger. "Hey, hot stuff," he murmurs sotto voce. "Bridesmaids wear you out?"

Kate bursts into laughter and everyone turns around to look at them. His wife presses her free hand over her mouth and turns a look to Castle, accusing.

"Richard," his mother chides, in stereo with Meredith of course. He's surprised at how his ex seems to have floated right through whatever conversation Kate had with her, but that's Meredith. She's floated right through her whole life.

"Dad," Alexis says quickly._  
_

"Sorry," Castle grumbles. "Sorry, pumpkin. Go on. I'm listening. Kate, stop laughing."

Kate laughs harder, and now Ellery is winding through the girls to come to her mother's side. She leans into Kate's knees and lifts both hands in silent plea, and Kate actually lets go of him and bends down to pick her up.

She smothers her laughter in Ellery's neck and kisses her, and Castle waves his mother on. "Working out the kinks, right?"

"Ah, well, they do say a chaotic dress rehearsal means a sublime opening day performance."

"Except this isn't a play," Rafe says dryly. "It's kind of the biggest deal of my whole life."

Castle sobers and he feels Kate go still at his side. "Right," he says, nodding his head. "You're right. It is a big day. We're good. We're listening."

Alexis turns around and gives him a pleading look on top of that but Castle isn't being facetious, not really. He shoots a swift glance to Kate. She's still trying to hide her amusement in deference to Rafe and Allie (they are just so _serious_), but Kate buries her smile in Ellery and their little girl is squirming as if she too might break out in giggles.

"Right," Castle says, marshaling his wayward thoughts. "Back to it. Mother. Do continue."

His mother nods imperially and turns back to giving directions and arguing proper etiquette for standing at the bride's entrance even if there's no music, while Meredith inserts her two cents every few words.

He listens but he's got his eyes on his family, watching the way Kate murmurs to Ellery in French and Croatian under her breath, lips close to their daughter's ear, watching Dashiell trace lines with his bare toes, drawing symbols that lead to letters, letters that form words.

It's his name at first, _Dash_ over and over. And then it's more complicated and too fast to make out and finally Castle realizes - his son is writing a poem in the leaves of grass.

* * *

Ellery sticks with Meredith and the girls as they head down towards the beach to set up for the reception. Rafe and his groomsmen - the same guys who made it from Chicago and took him out last night - are headed back to the main kitchen to finish preparations.

"Lucky all your friends are chefs," Castle says, walking at his side as they tread the boardwalk towards the house. Kate and Dashiell are talking behind them, a conversation Castle can't quite hear.

"No kidding. It's a lot to do. And Madison will be here as a wedding guest. Can't let her come away thinking I should've remained pastry chef, right?"

Kate must've heard that because she calls out. "Your desserts are fantastic, but I know you deserve that promotion. She knows it too - no matter how tonight turns out."

Rafe gives a dry chuckle and turns to look at her over his shoulder. "Thanks. The game hens are trickier than I expected."

"Hey, you need any help?" she offers. "More than your guys, I mean? I have no idea what to do with game hens, but I can follow directions."

"No, I think the guys and I have got it."

Castle feels Dash come up to his side, the boy's hand tucking into his cargo shorts's pocket. He lowers a hand to brush the top of his son's head but he keeps his eyes on Rafe. "Let me know if you need... anything else. All right? We've got the money - more than enough - and it doesn't feel right to not-"

"You guys are already paying for all this," Rafe protests. He shakes his head at Rick and the resolve in his eyes is daunting.

Still, Castle tries. "She's my daughter; she deserves to be - enchanted. I know you want that too. I'd do a lot more if you guys would let me. I mean, the wedding venue is my own house. Rafe, it's not like I'm doing a whole lot."

"Believe me, you're going to think you've done plenty when my family gets here. My mother won't know how to shut up about it. Or speak it tastefully. You'll wish you had done a lot less."

Castle grunts to hold back his amusement, but he hears Kate laughing as she steps off the boardwalk and comes to Rafe's side. "Oh, Rafe. You can't mean it like that."

"I do. I wholeheartedly do. And I'm begging you, for my wedding present, can you work some of that magic on them like you've done on Meredith? Because that's the kind of miracle it's going to take."

And then Castle does laugh, chuckling deep in his chest because he can't see the look on Kate's face, but he can imagine it.

"Dad," Dash says into his father's mirth. "Dad, hey come on. You said..."

"I said?" he prompts, stopping at the edge of the back deck so he can see Kate's face. Yup, just like he thought. _Magic._ She's floored by that. "What'd I say, Dash?"

"You know. Today. With the... words and stuff."

"Words and stuff?" Kate murmurs, her attention coming to them.

Ohhh, right, right. "Yes, the words. Dash and I were going to read a book together while it gets busy down here. Keep him out of the way. Oh, look, Kate, it's the decorators. Can you let them into the back yard and show them down?"

Kate narrows her eyes at him, but he pushes past her into the house, tugging Dash after him.

"Thanks, babe," he calls over his shoulder, giving her a thumbs up and a wink, really playing it up, so that she assumes he's just trying to get out of the work.

Well, that too.

Kate turns and heads for the front gate that leads through the archway between the house and the garage, the unloading spot for most of the decorators. Kate's giving him one of those, _I know what you're doing, buddy, and you owe me_ looks but Castle doesn't mind. Making it up to her is often something sexy in the shower, so he has no problem at all owing her one.

When Kate has disappeared, Castle leans over and gives Dash a bear hug, crushing him and bouncing him so that he giggles, before he drops Dash back to the floor.

"Thanks for reminding me - and being so sneaky about it. Come on, Dash. Let's go write Mom's poem."


	28. Chapter 28

**A Dash of Summer**

* * *

"Are you sure you've got it?" Kate asks.

The wedding planner waves her off again, that effervescent happiness unwilling to be defeated even in the face of Meredith and Martha's latest bright idea. "I have it under control."

"Allie might-"

"I promise, Mother of the Bride, everything is just fine. You go get ready. It's nearly time."

Kate checks the long walk from the pool's guest house to be sure that Meredith didn't hear that, and then she gives the wedding planner a smile. "Well, all right. If Allie needs - or if she just has to talk it out..."

"Of course, of course," the woman says, smile still radiant but maybe a little strained.

Kate realizes that this means she herself has now become one of the people that the wedding planner has to handle, and so she takes her leave.

"Ellery, come on, sweetheart."

Ella gives up playing with the leftover reams of bright ribbon that Martha must have left after doing the flowers, and the girl follows Kate upstairs and away from the thick of things. The wedding guests aren't set to arrive for another two hours, but Kate supposes that's close enough.

"Time for us to get dressed for Allie's party. You ready?" Kate reaches out and skims her fingers through Ella's hair as she climbs the stairs. "Your shoes-"

"Oh, my beautiful shoes," Ella sighs. Her little face turns up to Kate with such hopeful and eager anticipation that Kate can't help but laugh.

It spoils the mood, but Kate leans in and scoops Ellery off the top stair, carries her down the hallway with soft kisses against her neck to make up for it. "It's not funny, I know. You sometimes just surprise me, Ella. In a very good way."

Ellery is still giving her these suspicious, huffy pouts but her turned down mouth keeps coming up like she's trying to fight her own giggles. Kate walks into the master bedroom and drops her daughter onto the bed, smiling when Ella's laughter pops out.

"We can get ready together," Kate says, bouncing the mattress so her daughter giggles again. "I've got to get a quick shower first."

Ellery comes to her knees and scuttles over, throws her arms around Kate's neck. She wraps Ella in a hug, humming into her little girl's embrace. So sweet and strong.

"I watch you do all the things?" Ellery says at her ear, words quiet.

"All the things? You mean put on make up and everything?"

"And your hair, Mommy."

"Yeah," she says, squeezing tighter. "Of course you can watch. Like Dash and Daddy this morning, huh?"

"Yeah. I help."

"Okay. Shower first."

"I not need a shower."

Kate pulls back and gives her daughter a quick look. Her hair dried tangled because she didn't want it to be combed, but generally Ella is much cleaner and neater than Dash could ever be. No lunch on her shirt, no dirt smudged into her face, and miraculously, no bruises or cuts either. She'll be fine, and Kate will wet her hair down and comb out the tangles later.

"Fine, no bath for you. Give me five minutes to rinse off, okay?"

"I find Dash," Ellery says, grinning now and leaping off the bed. Kate's heart trips but Ellery doesn't, and she's running for the door. Probably to rub it in, how she's getting to spend so much time with her mother.

Kate shakes her head but starts stripping her clothes off quickly, heading into the master bathroom and closing the door behind her, just in case. Already there are a lot of people running around, even if they are family, and Kate feels the lack of privacy. She flips on the shower and adjusts the temperature, scratches her nails at her scalp as she rolls her shoulders.

Allie's wedding planning hasn't been too stressful, on the whole. Of course, the wedding itself might prove otherwise, but Kate thinks they might just make it. Meredith is handled, hopefully, and things are falling into place despite that last minute _this will be a fantastic idea_ from Martha.

Plus her daughter seems to actually be _enjoying_ her mother's company. Miracles can happen.

* * *

When Kate steps out of the shower, she follows her hunch and opens the bathroom door, the steam rolling out. Ellery's face peers back at her from the floor where she apparently was waiting, and Kate ducks down, kissing her cheeks.

"Come on in, baby."

Ella scoots inside, scrambles to the bathroom sink, and climbs up onto the counter without so much as a word.

"All right, little monkey," Kate laughs softly. Her throat is husky from the shower and humidity and she combs a hand through her wet hair. "Let me get on some clothes. Hang on."

She slips out of the bathroom and steps into the walk-in closet, finds the black silk underwear she picked out specially for her dress. She can't help feeling excited for tonight, for Allie and Rafe, for dressing up and putting on a show for their family and friends, hosting everyone. Kate grabs a t-shirt and throws it over her still damp skin, goes back for Ellery in the bathroom. Ella is picking through her mother's make-up collection, twisting up lipsticks and pursing her own lips.

Kate grins and takes the shockingly red tube that Castle told her once looked like blood - and he was being complimentary - and she pushes it up. "Want this?"

"I can have some?"

"For now. Not a good color for a wedding, but we'll rub it off and get you some lip gloss for later."

Ella lifts her chin and makes a funny little face, evidently prepared for lipstick, and Kate grins and paints it lightly over her daughter's mouth. Ellery smacks her lips and smiles back, looking coy, and then twists around on the counter to study herself in the mirror. She preens a little, hands pressed to the glass, leaning in close.

Kate puts the lipstick back and lifts her arms, twists her hair back, drops of water clinging to the ends. She heads through to the bedroom to get the fancy folding chair, as Castle calls it, brings it up to the low vanity at the sink and sits down, ready now.

Ellery scoots in close and wriggles on the counter. "What first, Mommy?"

"Hmm, moisturizer," she says, tapping her finger on the white and green bottle. Ella pulls it out and hands it over like a nurse in surgery and Kate can't help the ridiculous grin that spreads across her face.

She remembers doing this with her mother, remembers the feel of her feet swinging and the cool porcelain at the back of her knees. She remembers staring at her mother as she dabbed foundation under her eyes, remembers the breathless feeling of her mother telling her _look up_ as she lightly penciled eyeliner on her lower lid, just for fun or a Halloween costume.

Crackling, electric. The feeling of being under her mother's attention for beauty. Something about it that Kate can't define even now, but she can see it on her daughter's face, feel it shimmering between them.

Kate uses a finger and takes a little of the cream, then she opens Ellery's palm and smears it. "Use this," she says. "And put it on your cheeks and your neck."

"Mine neck?" Ella says, her hair whipping around as she peers at herself in the mirror to watch it go on.

"My mom always told me, _don't forget your neck_. Keep it soft," Kate imparts. She can hear her mother in her own voice now, the echo of it making her throat tighten. She layers moisturizer under her eyes while her daughter's not looking at her, careful to smooth it.

"What else?" Ella asks, turning back.

"Well-"

"Hey, girls. Sorry to interrupt."

Kate twists in the chair to see Castle standing just inside the bathroom door. He's got a goofy, tender smile on his face that means he's been standing there for a while, and Kate narrows her eyes at him.

"I need to borrow Ellery for a few minutes."

"Sure," she says, turning back to the counter. But Ella's face is so disappointed that Kate stops, lifts her eyes to the mirror to catch Castle's.

"Only for five, maybe ten minutes Ellery Kate," Castle says. He holds out his hand to her.

Kate can tell that she wants to go, she wants to be a part of whatever her father and brother are doing, but she longs to stay as well.

"It's okay, sweetheart. You can go."

"But... I will miss you, Mommy."

"You'll miss me? It won't be... oh," Kate murmurs, realization dawning. "Hey, I know. I'll wait for you. Okay? I won't do a single thing without you, Ella."

"You wait for me?"

"Of course. Go with Daddy; he needs you."

Ellery lunges in and kisses Kate hard on the mouth, then scampers off the counter using Kate's shoulder and knee and the chair, a complicated maneuver that she executes flawlessly like a gymnast's dismount. Castle is grinning at her, exceedingly, and he brushes two fingers over his lips with a wink.

Ella runs out ahead of him and Kate turns back around, can't help but laugh when she sees the red lipstick smeared at the corner of her mouth.

* * *

Kate puts the ipad down when Castle brings _both_ kids back into the room fifteen minutes later. She had started reading one of the Nikki books to pass the time, and now she's glad she put on shorts as she swings her legs around and puts her feet on the floor.

"Hey, what's going on?" she asks, starting to rise.

Dashiell knocks against the side of the mattress as he comes into the room, looking embarrassed. But Ellery scampers in with a wide and delighted smile, pleased and proud of herself.

"I did color it all, Mommy. Purple for you."

"Oh," she replies, still clueless. "Purple's my favorite color."

"I did make it."

"Make what?" Kate laughs, glancing up at Castle for explanation. But he looks embarrassed too, if those pink tips of his ears are any indication, and the last time he looked embarrassed when he gave her a present, it wasn't exactly something the kids should see.

"Me and Dad did it," Dashiell says, reaching back to tug on his father's arm. Castle brings out what looks like a folded over sheet of purple construction paper, offers it to her without any of his usual theatrics.

She takes it, studying the black stick figures and what looks like an elephant sitting with a cup of coffee on a table. She smiles over at her kids in surprise, and Ellery climbs into her lap, wriggling down. "See, I did color us all, Mommy. Me and you and Daddy and Dashy and Rex and Allie and Rafe and my Linc."

Oh, the elephant must be Rex? Kate kisses Ella's cheek and reaches out to snag Dashiell's shoulder. "It's so good, baby. I love it."

"Open it, Mom," Dash says, sounding like he practically dreads it.

Kate flips open the card, casting Castle a quick look in question, but he still has that hesitation behind his eyes that makes her curious.

"We all did make it," Ella says happily, even as her mother sees what it is.

"Oh," Kate gasps. Her fingers reach out to trace the words, breath caught.

"Dad said it was a love poem," Dash mutters.

"Oh, you guys," she croaks, blinking fast.

"Are you crying?"

"No," she laughs. "Yes. Oh."

She presses her hand to her mouth and lifts her head to Castle. He comes in, tugging her hand away, and crashes his lips to hers, his grip on her neck more fierce than she might have ever thought, his emotion echoing hers.

She wraps an arm around him, the other circling her kids, clutching all of them, finds herself laughing and haunted at the same time, his lines swimming in her vision, her joy like tears.

"You made her cry, Dad."

"Good cry," she laughs. "It's good. You guys did so good."

"I did color all these purple coffees for you, Mommy."

"You are so wonderful at it, sweet girl," she murmurs, kissing faces one after another. She can't help but feast on the words again, and then she presses the card against her chest and lifts up into Castle's embrace.

Ellery giggles as she's tumbled back to the mattress, but Kate wraps her arms around her husband.

"I love you too."

* * *

_for Kate_

with my son at my side  
I begin transcription:  
_she smells like mom_, he says  
and the sigh is a boy who knows  
what it is to be wanted, how  
the morning breathes easier  
with her close at hand, a touch  
of skins at the kitchen table.

he is wary of mush, thinks it  
ought not to have kissing, but when I say  
_still, this is your mother_ the form  
shapes itself in his own language:  
the poetry of still darkness, up before  
the sun, and the unfurling weight  
of wakefulness shared.

reading over my shoulder  
as I conscript these lines, he  
remarks _that doesn't sound like love._

oh son,  
but it is.

this is love.


End file.
